CRANFORD — Arguing that a reduction in their teaching hours would also cut down their ability to engage with students, adjunct professors at Union County College are pushing the school to preserve their workload.

Members of the Union County College chapter of the United Adjunct Faculty Federation of New Jersey say that the administration's attempt to cap the number courses they can teach per semester will cause students' education to suffer. The union argues that if part-time faculty members can't earn living wages from teaching at the school, they'll have to take on other jobs, giving them less time to work with students outside of class.

"Students get hurt by this," said William Lipkin, co-president of the school's union chapter and a history and political science instructor. "If they're cutting back our hours, it means that we're going to be on campus less, and that doesn't lead to increased student retention or success or graduation rates."

Adjunc faculty members are now able to teach four standard courses per semester, but school officials are looking to cut that down to three as part of the negotiation of a new contract, Lipkin said.

The drop in courseload would translate to a pay cut for adjuncts, who are paid per credit hour and do not earn benefits.

Union members delivered a petition with 321 signatures this week to the college's Board of Trustees, calling the proposed pay cut unnecessary and a threat to their livelihoods.

"We urge the Board to direct the college’s administration to settle a contract NOW that preserves the ability of adjunct faculty to teach 12 credit hours per semester and also pays a living wage," the petition reads.

Lipkin said the union also presented trustees with a second petition, signed by nearly 500 students who asked that school recognize the work of the 370 adjuncts and treat them equitably.

A spokesman for Union County College confirmed that the adjuncts' union delivered the petitions and that the contract was under negotiation.

"Union County College has been in negotiations with the American Federation of Teachers for over a year and will continue to do so in good faith until we come to a mutually acceptable resolution," college spokesman Stephen Nacco said in a statement. "We won’t negotiate a labor contract through the media."

The collective bargaining agreement between the school and the adjuncts' union expired at the end of July 2013. The two sides are now in mediation, according to the union.

Under the terms of the last contract, Union County College adjuncts earn between $590 and $775 per credit hour, a scale based on experience and education. A typical three-credit course earns them, on average, about $2,090 for a 15-week semester. The current maximum of 12 credit hours per semester would yield $8,362 for an instructor teaching four courses. The new proposed cap of nine credit hours would drop the average maximum earnings to about $6,271.

"We figured out that we're paid about $16 an hour for what we do," Lipkin said. "These are professionals, many that have nine years of college, that in many cases have terminal degrees."

In contrast, Lipkin said, full-time professors receive about $50 an hour in compensation, plus benefits and the eligibility for tenure that will provide job security.

To support themselves, many adjuncts cobble together multiple teaching and freelance positions. Lipkin said he entered academia with the goal of securing a full-time professorial job — which he now describes as a "pipe dream" — but today holds adjunct posts at four universities.

At Union County College, adjuncts make up about two-thirds of the faculty and teach almost half the courses, Lipkin said.

As part-time instructors take on more of a prominent role on campuses, adjuncts nationwide are organizing into unions, like the Union County College Adjunct Faculty Federation, which falls under the banner of the American Federation of Teachers.

Even unionized, Lipkin said the adjuncts are met with a lack of respect from officials.

"We are asking for a humane, decent, live-able contract," he said. "We're not asking for the moon."

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Katie Lannan may be reached at klannan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @katielannan. Find NJ.com on Facebook.