"The Sad Death of One Penniless Adjunct Professor Is Still Making a Surprising Difference

Margaret Mary Vojtko has become an emblem to adjuncts everywhere.

 . . . As with other adjuncts, Professor Vojtko was unsalaried, instead paid a low rate for each course she taught. This provided no reliable income, for she was never told until just before a semester began whether she'd be teaching three classes, one ... or none. Even in good years with full teaching loads, her pay was below $25,000 -- with zero benefits.
        Margret Mary's last year was certainly not a good one. Duquesne had cut her to one class per semester, reducing her income to under $10,000. Also, her cancer returned, piling huge medical bills on her back. With no savings or university pension, she'd become so pauperized that she couldn't pay her electric bill, effectively making her homeless that winter. Her stress level was off the charts, yet she never missed a day of class. Until last spring, that is. That's when Duquesne fired her.

        In August, this proud professional educator was found sprawled on her front lawn, having suffered a massive heart attack. She died penniless, jobless ... and literally heartbroken, having been thrown away by the university that had used her for 25 years.
        Her story would be unknown -- except for Daniel Kovalik. A lawyer with the United Steelworkers, Daniel knew Margaret Mary through his union's drive to help adjunct teachers organize for better pay and treatment. He wrote up her story, telling how Duquesne had let her spiral into abject poverty, and then they coldly booted her -- no severance, no goodbyes, no nothing. Impoverished, abandoned, scared and stressed to the limit, her heart exploded shortly afterward.
        Yet, in death Margaret Mary is more alive than ever! Kovalik's poignant piece swept through the Internet, striking a chord with adjunct teachers everywhere. They see that their own low-wage position could put them in the same downward spin it did for her. So Margaret Mary's story is being told all across the country, energizing campaigns to empower and lift up these hard-hit university teachers."