The union drive is being organized by non-tenure track faculty — full-time and part-time teachers who are paid less and often have fewer perks and less job security than their colleagues with tenure.

Most colleges and universities award tenure — a virtual lifetime appointment — to a majority of their professors. Many new faculty hires are referred to as tenure-track because they’re on a track to gain tenure within several years of being hired.

But in recent years, as universities have sought to rein in labor costs and remain flexible as enrollments and student interests change, colleges have relied more on full-time and part-time non-tenured teachers who go by titles of lecturers, instructors and adjuncts.

At Elon, lecturers work full-time, are paid a salary and get health and other benefits. But these aren’t tenured positions, and contracts generally run for one to three years, though they’re usually renewed.

Elon’s adjuncts are part-timers who are paid several thousand dollars per semester course but don’t always get benefits. The number of courses they teach — and the pay they receive — can vary each semester. Adjuncts say they don’t know until the end of one semester if Elon wants them to return for the next one.