TO THE EDITOR:
Several persons interviewed in the recent article about fixed-term faculty make arguments that rest comfortably upon a false distinction between “teaching” and “research.” The fact of the matter is that fixed–term faculty at UNC and other institutions conduct extensive research. We research scholarship that illuminates the subjects we teach, we research archival materials and work with archivists and research librarians who help us to develop classroom research projects for our students and we too publish our original research.
In addition, we advise students, and some of us divide our work between teaching and administrative positions, the latter also requiring extensive research. Yes, we are “the opening act,” and in our teaching and our research we often perform a version of Bertolt Brecht’s “Questions from a Worker who Reads,” which asks:
“Who built Thebes of the seven gates? In the books you will read the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?”
Henry Veggian
Professor
English
