At the faculty/staff/alumni #BlackburnTakeover support rally a few weeks ago, when the situation of @HowardU not paying faculty and grad students in a timely manner was acknowledged, there was some bleak laughter and head-nodding. Because this is not new.
This is a known part of the run-around. It's been going on for years. Here's how it looks on the ground...
I'm going to speak to the part-time and full-time faculty side of things in this thread, but grad students are affected here too. Rest assured: you are not alone!!! @HAU_2021 @HowardChemists @HowardUYDSA @150Bison @HUSAssociation @_LiveMovement
How this looks for full-time faculty is that people are hired (the part-time adjunct experience is different). They are grateful to have jobs with benefits. They are thrilled to be working at The Mecca. And then they realize things are not what they seem.
Here's a colleague's account of their efforts to get paid this fall: 
.@HowardU is well aware that they have a problem with onboarding new faculty. We've been reassured in faculty meetings that they're working on streamlining the process. However, as it is now, newly hired faculty are very often not onboarded in a timely manner.
That means they don't have access to pay, as well as benefits (in a pandemic!!), University email, and University learning management systems. People are conducting classes on personal Zoom accounts and communicating with students through personal emails.
Here's the paystub a colleague received last week. In mid-November, they received their first check, which was dated 9/26/21.
Another colleague who was hired in August, just this week received their first pay stub, and is anticipating their first pay check this week. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.
But also, THIS IS NOT NEW. It is not new that @HowardU treats their faculty this way. It has been this way for awhile. Here is a story from an alum, recounting their experience of late pay from several years ago:
We teach at Howard because we love the vision of what Howard could be. We teach at Howard because we love and support the amazing students who come here. We teach at Howard because we are passionate about education and the critical role it can play in the overthrow of injustice.
We teach at @HowardU in spite of the abuse we experience as faculty-- an abuse that is mirrored in the administration's treatment of students.
Last week, I had a phone call with a colleague who taught a course in Spring 2021 for which THEY STILL HAVE NOT BEEN PAID by @HowardU.
This was a PhD student. They were finishing their dissertation at the time. If you've never done a PhD, let me tell you, it is not fun! But- as a current graduate student- this person was excited to have the opportunity to teach at @HowardU.
When they weren't paid in a timely manner, they had to work extra hard not to step on anyone's toes and to maintain relationships within their department. But they obviously wanted to be paid for their work too. That's not an unreasonable expectation. We are not working for free.
They reached out over email and text, in a recurring cycle from last May onwards. They sent an email to the Provost. The financial office finally contacted them. 3-4 weeks ago, the financial office contacted them again to say they just filed a pay request.
This faculty member has been respectful, followed protocol, and heard nothing. None of the tenured-faculty has reached out to them. When teaching, they had no Blackboard or email. A department secretary said at one point: "You're not even in the system!"
This faculty member taught in Spring 2021 (January to May) and, nearly a year since their employment commenced, their still waiting for the $6000 @HowardU owes them for the work they performed.
“When people think of Howard, they think that is THE institution, that’s the school everybody talks about and it’s like we’re not getting paid... Am I just never gonna get paid? They’re not even taking my phone calls. I feel like a bill collector."
I know this is an issue that affects graduate students and it's surely mirrored in financial aid dispersal and in other aspects of the student experience that I know nothing about. My point is this: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!! And it does NOT have to be this way.
It SHOULD NOT be this way. @HowardU can be better. Howard MUST be better. Faculty, staff, and students love our work and we love Howard. But as @tressiemcphd says, the institutions do not love us. And the current administration of Howard has made that very clear
Through it's promotion of a culture of abuse, wherein we're all left to scramble and throw our energy at things that should be fundamental, like access to pay, benefits, learning management systems, university email, and reliable on-campus wifi.
I am very angry. I hope that you are too, from reading what I'm quite sure is just a tiny sliver of the whole story of a situation that I'm quite certain is pervasive. And I hope that we use that anger to demand that this system be fixed.
If you've any experience and knowledge to add here, please do! Stories = power. And living conditions are learning conditions are teaching conditions are working conditions are living conditions, etc. etc.
Class dismissed ❤️
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