AMENDED ADDRESS OF DR. SUSAN KIRWAN, ANTHROPOLOGIST, TO MACOMB COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

NOTE: The following submission is a speech that an AAFMCC member presented at the October Board of Trustees' meeting. It also contains a brief account of her actions that followed her address to The Board.

AMENDED ADDRESS OF DR. SUSAN KIRWAN, ANTHROPOLOGIST, TO MACOMB COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, MONDAY 10/22/2018
 6:00 PM (DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME)

My name is Dr. Susan Kirwan. I have taught Anthropology at Macomb Community College for 9 years in January.

I am very good at teaching. When I said good-bye to my class at the end of winter semester 2018, my students gave me a standing ovation and presented me with a bouquet of a dozen, long-stemmed red roses.

If my students were paying me, I would receive economic justice. But my students are not paying me. Trustees and their administrators are paying me, and for that reason, I wish to remind the Board of Trustees and administrators in regard to a few things:

(1) Faculty and students do not exist to serve the Board of Trustees and their administrators. The Board of Trustees and its administrators exist to serve scholars (specifically adjunct faculty) and their students.

(2) Without faculty and students, there would be no college, and administrators would become the unemployed.

(3) Every employee in the private sector (even McDonald’s employees) receives compensation for every minute spent working. I too deserve compensation for every minute I work outside of the classroom, and most of my work is done outside of the classroom. Thus, I accuse the Board of Trustees and their administrators of running academic sweat-shops that exploit adjunct faculty mercilessly without pay.

(4) To illustrate the extent of my unpaid work, I submit a partial log of unpaid labor which will speak for itself.

Thank you.

I then left the podium to hand out a copy of log of unpaid hours to each Board Member.

I immediately left the lecture hall.