Lecturer Pay

From Patch newspapers:  A UCLA professor of astrophysics made headlines this week after releasing a TikTok video stating his low salary has rendered him homeless. Dr. Daniel McKeown asked his supporters to raise awareness about his salary and to lobby the school for change. In the video, McKeown said he earns $70,000 — not enough to afford an apartment in the affluent neighborhood surrounding UCLA. According to rental market research firm Zumper.com, the median rent in Westwood is $4,200, 111 percent higher than the national average. 

“Hi everyone, my name is Daniel, and I’m an astrophysics professor at UCLA. I’m only being paid $70,000 for this academic year to be a full-time professor, and the rent in Los Angeles is incredibly expensive,” McKeown says in the video...

Full story at https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/izxug/ucla-astrophysics-professor-claims-low-pay-left-him-homeless.

Other news media have picked up the story. I checked the UCLA directory this morning and it does not list a Daniel McKeown, nor does the Astrophysics Dept. list him. (The fact that the Internet Archive is down due to hacking - see earlier posts on this blog - meant that I could not use the WayBack Machine to explore his work history at UCLA more fully.) However, it appears he was a lecturer in the past, based on internet searching. Whether he will be employed again is unknown. A labor lawyer would likely have advised him to advocate for lecturers in general rather just himself. A more collective complaint might have given him standing at PERB to complain about non-renewal of his contract, if that is what has occurred, in retaliation for concerted activity.

This episode does point to the increasing dependence of higher ed in general on what amount to temps, as oppose to better-paid ladder faculty, to teach undergraduates.

You can see the TikTok video below:

Or direct to https://www.tiktok.com/@danielastrophysics/video/7420110866860805419.