Students Face Failing Internet Service, Dismayed Faculty as Semester Begins

Demoralized Faculty, Failing Internet and AC-less Rooms Greet Students as Administrative Salaries Soar

Middlesex College classrooms were beset by internet outages, faulty air conditioning and an atmosphere dampened by stalled negotiations over the faculty’s contract in the first weeks of the new semester, said staff and students.

Professor Raymond Dademo, the Composition Coordinator for the Department of English, said, “There have been constant class disruptions … simply because the internet doesn’t work.” 

Dademo also said rooms lacking reliable air conditioning are like sweatboxes.

Amid the ongoing contractual dispute, he said, these setbacks mean faculty are not playing with a full deck. He also said that students’ experience is bound to suffer as a result.

Yufan Yang, a first-year student, said the spotty Wi-Fi has made it hard for him to focus on his studies.

“It’s really annoying,” said Yang.

Dademo noted the importance of staying connected in a modern learning environment. He said that even much in-person instruction now takes access to web-based materials for granted.

But online courses, which have seen a surge in popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, are especially vulnerable to interruptions, he said. Since classes resumed, students using campus Wi-Fi have often abruptly dropped out of his virtual lectures and office hours due to the unstable connection.

Vanessa Batista, a first-year student, said, “Only in some of my classes have I really noticed an issue where, if a teacher is trying to … pull up a presentation, it won’t load,” adding that most of her courses this semester are online.

Professor Patricia Payne, President of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 1940, the union representing full-time professors, counselors and librarians, said that never in her three-plus decades of teaching at Middlesex has the college been so poorly run.

Faculty and students are the heart of the institution, she said, but the college administration dismisses the value of both.

“I’ve never seen morale this low,” she said, citing the stress of the pandemic as an exacerbating factor.

Mark McCormick, President of Middlesex College, declined to be interviewed for this article. He provided a written statement instead.

In his statement, President McCormick said, “The college would like very much to come to an agreement with the [union] that demonstrates our respect for the great work that our faculty do with students every day and will allow us to be able to support the college’s growth and fulfill our mission to provide a quality, affordable education for the residents of Middlesex County.”

However, Dademo said the technical failures suggest a refusal on the part of the college to invest in academics.

Over the past 10 years, faculty salaries suffered a $3-million-dollar (20%) loss, while salaries for administrators increased by $1.4 million (14%), according to figures recorded publicly in the minutes of the Board of Trustees and compiled by ATF Local 1940.

From 2016 to 2020, faculty received a 2.5% increase on their base salary each year, according to a contract with the college that expired July 1, 2020.

In discussions to draft a new agreement, the union asked for an annual 3.5% increase, according to documents published on its website. The college countered with a 0% on-base increase.

Negotiations have since stalled, as previously reported by Quo Vadis, and faculty returned to campus on Sept. 6 without a contract or a raise for the second consecutive year.

Over the summer, inflation reached a 40-year high of more than 9%, according to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Statistics. Payne and Dademo said this partly explains the urgency of the faculty’s position.

At the time the previous contract expired, the maximum 10-month salary for tenured professors was $175,072 — the most of any full-time teaching faculty, according to the agreement. But Payne said the highest salary earned by any faculty member is more than $25,000 short of this upper limit.

For assistant instructors, the lowest-paid faculty, the minimum salary was $55,853.

In May, counselor Sheema Majiduddin told Patch.com, “The president received a $10,000 raise during the pandemic and the county administrators are not offering anything to the teachers who are on the ground, doing all the work.”

In a follow-up email, President McCormick said that last fiscal year he did receive a raise of $10,000 after foregoing a contractual increase of $5,000 the year before.

According to his contract, the president will earn $232,000 this year.