The AAUP has long been sounding the alarm about the problematic rise of contingent faculty appointments, which generally come with no job security, few if any benefits, and a fraction of the salary that a tenured or tenure-track faculty member can expect. In the January-February issue of Academe, Chris Nagel looks at the question from an ethical perspective; using Foucault’s concepts of subjections and subjectivation, Nagel probes the question of whether it is ethical for faculty to accept contingent appointments, and in so doing implicitly endorse the contingent model. The article concludes with a consideration of possible ways for faculty to resist the rise of contingency.

“The Ethics of Tenuous Faculty” is now posted on the AAUP website.