BY COLLEEN DALY MARTINEZ WITH MARIAN AHN THORPE

The part-time lecturer (PTL) unit of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT union is fighting for longer, more secure contracts, salary increases, and healthcare for PTLs. The full-time faculty and graduate unit reached a tentative agreement on April 16. Marian Ahn Thorpe, a graduate member of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, interviewed PTL unit member Colleen Daly Martinez.

Colleen Daly Martinez holds a PhD in social work from Rutgers University. She is a licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist-supervisor. She has been a part-time lecturer (PTL) at Rutgers since 2009, and is a sought-after speaker on sexual abuse treatment, attachment theory, play therapy, and school mental health.  

How long have you worked as a part-time lecturer (PTL) at Rutgers?

I started teaching in the fall of 2009, and I have taught at Rutgers every semester since (except last fall, after my injury). After ten years and fifty classes, I estimate that I’ve contributed to the education of around 1,000 masters of social work (MSW) students. I’m most well known as an expert on play therapy.  

What is play therapy? Why is it an important course for MSW students?

Play therapy is the systematic, theoretically grounded use of play and other expressive interventions to help children resolve difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development. I prompted my dissertation chairperson to develop the MSW play therapy course when I was a PhD student at Rutgers. Now I teach play therapy, and MSW students on every Rutgers campus have access to a play therapy course. I am so happy children are getting more developmentally appropriate services because of my work.   

What does the average semester look like for you as a PTL?

I typically teach two to three courses per semester at Rutgers. I have taught in New Brunswick, Newark, online, and at satellite locations. I spend at least thirty hours a week on lesson preparation, instruction, and grading. Social work is a writing-intensive field, so there’s rarely a day when I’m not grading papers.

In addition, I travel around the state providing workshops and trainings for mental health professionals, school staff, and administrators. Much of that work has been as a volunteer because school mental health is so important.

Together, all my work adds up to well over forty hours a week, but most PTLs make just $5,178 per course, so my compensation definitely does not add up to a full-time salary with benefits.  

You said you had a health emergency last semester. What happened?

In early September, I woke up with extreme pain in my arm and neck. I found out that I was at risk of becoming paralyzed due to a disc compressing my spinal cord, and that I would need spinal fusion surgery. I was scheduled to teach but I didn’t want to leave my students or the school stuck, so I called to tell them I was going to have major surgery. They said no problem; we’ll reassign your classes. I lost literally all of my Rutgers income in that one phone call.

When full-time employees have these things happen, they are given time off, they have health insurance to cover costs, and they can go back to their jobs when they recover. But I had nothing. It was staggering. It was eye-opening to think about the value I contribute to the university, to the School of Social Work, and to my students and to realize how little I get back from Rutgers. 

How did you manage the medical bills?

While I’m still recovering physically, I’m also dealing with significant uncovered medical costs and the loss of income from last semester. I’m lucky to have medical benefits through my spouse. Had my spouse not had insurance and a steady income, we would have been homeless. I know how fortunate I am. What if I were a single parent? If I depended on Rutgers to support me I would have been lost. I’m lucky they gave me classes again this semester. 

How can Rutgers change its treatment of PTLs so that other people don’t have to go through what you experienced?

One important priority is long-term contracts. Even before this injury, I constantly lived under the concern of, “I know I have work now, but will I have work next semester?” That is a constant stressor.

When I told colleagues that are full-time about the absolute absence of a safety net for PTLs, they were shocked. More than one said to me, “I just assumed that you had some job security because you’ve been around for so long and you’ve done so much.” People assume there is a path to job security. There isn’t anything. There’s no protection.

A second priority is adequate pay. Students tell me how valuable their time is with clinician professors, professors who actually do the work. I have written hundreds of recommendations and given my students thousands of hours of additional support. These are things that should be compensated. Students have no idea we get paid a tiny fraction of what full-time faculty make. They’d be shocked if they knew. 

Rutgers Chancellor Christopher J. Molloy has said, “If [PTLs] don’t want to do this, they need to get another job. There are probably other people who can fill the role, so it’s sort of like supply and demand.” What’s your reaction to his remarks?

I was staggered by the contempt evident in his statement. It’s a clear indication of his lack of respect for the people who are doing the most important work of the university. When he thinks that we as teachers are so easily replaceable, he clearly does not understand the value of what happens in the classroom. The children of New Jersey, and the future social workers of New Jersey, deserve to learn from expert clinicians. I could make more money as an agency administrator, but what about the thousands of kids I’m helping by teaching MSW students? I have valuable knowledge for people who are treating children, and it’s upsetting to see how little Rutgers cares about my work.