INSTEAD OF ISOLATION, A SENSE OF COMMUNITY
Leleua Loupe's Journey as a Freeway Flyer
By David Bacon
Capital and Main,
2/11/15
"At the beginning of the semester," explains
historian and lecturer Leleua Loupe, "students don't know history or
understand the world around them. Some even get angry when I challenge what
they believe. But by the end, they
become aware of our history, of discrimination, and begin to understand what
they themselves have experienced.
"I love every aspect of teaching," she
continues, "the interaction with students, the research in my own
field. I feel I'm contributing to
creating a better world."
It's that love of her profession that keeps her going,
despite the obstacles she faces. Hers is
a familiar story - that of the freeway flyer.
Today she teaches on just two campuses -- five classes a semester at Cal
State Fullerton, and one class at Mount San Antonio College. But there have been years where it was three
campuses, and even more classes.
In the hierarchy of academia, lecturer positions are
sometimes described as stepping stones to eventual tenure, and lecturers
themselves denigrated as less experienced or knowledgeable faculty. This clearly doesn't fit Loupe's professional
profile. Growing up between Seattle and
Honolulu, she started in community college in Hawaii, did archeological field
work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and then got bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees at the University of
California in Riverside, in public history resource management. Since receiving her PhD in 2005 she's written
books and many journal and encyclopedia articles, recorded oral histories, and presented
papers "all over," she says.
That, however, didn't get her tenure. That's no surprise, given that institutions
of higher education now employ far more non-tenured faculty than tenured. But in this environment it's also easy for
discrimination to thrive. A decade ago
Loupe started with a tenure track interview at Cal Poly Pomona. But her interviewer questioned her about her
marriage and children. Instead of
tenure, she got a one-year contract that wasn't renewed. "I didn't know about the CFA then,"
she says, "so when they wanted to get rid of me, I went
quietly."
Loupe did then what most recent graduates do, and began
picking up classes wherever she could get them.
Every year she taught 3-5 at Cal State Fullerton, 2-3 at Mount San
Antonio, and 2-3 at Rancho Santiago - a total of 7-9 per semester. At first she lived in Riverside. From there it's 30 miles to Mount San Antonio
in Walnut, another 20 to Fullerton, and then 10 to Rancho Santiago in Orange.
Loupe was a single mom by the time she got her PhD, but
her good fortune was that her mother, an artist and muralist, lived with her
and her oldest daughter Alea. Loupe's
family is Hawaiian, and many relatives have migrated to southern
California. Alea was surrounded by
aunts and uncles. "But my mom
raised her because I was never home," she remembers. "She told Alea why I had to do what I
was doing, and I made sure we got some quality time, but it was a big price to
pay."
Putting together all the classes, she was making
$2000-2500 a month, paying $550 rent on a two-bedroom apartment, and putting a
lot of miles on a worn-out car. She and
her partner then moved to Fullerton, and using her credit and his cash, were
able to buy a house. Even with both incomes,
however, her debts piled up, and eventually they lost the home to foreclosure
and bankruptcy.
That was when the recession began. In the budget cuts she was reduced to one
class each on two campuses. "For a
year I was desperate. I still don't know
how we survived," she shudders. But
things got better, and eventually she got her classes back - a blessing and a
curse.
The curse is living in the car. "I'm commuting sometimes 8 hours a
day," Loupe says. She's been
rear-ended three times, spending three years in therapy after the last
one. As an adjunct, she has no office of
her own, sharing space and a copier at CSU Fullerton, but with nothing at the
two community colleges. "I have to
think ahead all the time, and constantly make lists of things to do, and when. I prepare for one campus at another, going to
the cafeteria, or even Starbucks. I get
home at 10 and then stay up til one."
Her actual office is the trunk of her car - full of
books, office supplies, changes of clothes, water and her laptop.
Finally she found a partner who could understand and
accept the crazy lifestyle, got married again, and had two more children. "I come from a large family, and I'm 39
now. So it was take the risk and have
kids now or I'd never be able to.
But," she says, "I have colleagues who aren't married and have
no kids because they can't afford it.
Some are still living at home with their parents." She herself now pays $1200-1600 a month for
childcare, which would have been impossible when she was still single.
For the first few years of adjunct work she got tenure
interviews every year, but never was offered the position. "I began to ask myself, 'Is it me?' Finally, after the worst abuses, I got in
touch with CFA. That changed my
life. Being a freeway flyer means
instability and isolation. CFA gave me a
sense of community."
When she got active, her chapter in Fullerton wasn't very
responsive to lecturers, but with the efforts of Loupe and other adjuncts that
began to change. The chapter established
a lecturers' council, with a consistent membership of 4-5 people. The bylaws were changed to create a permanent
position on the executive board for a lecturer, which she now holds, and other
lecturers were elected local vice-president, secretary and board member.
"We have input now on campus policy on evaluations
and appointments," she says.
"We've gotten some pay raises and restructured the salary schedule,
and there's more security in reappointment rights."
If only Loupe could get a tenured position she'd be able
to envision a secure future. "When
I began I had this idea of being a professional and having a career. Now I just have a job. I see people given tenure with less
experience or publications, while some of the most talented faculty are still
untenured. People say, 'you have to pay
your dues,' or 'you're lucky to have a job.'
But really, we should all have tenure, especially after teaching ten
years. People should be lecturers only
by choice, not because they're forced into making a living this way."
So, with no secure future in sight in California, Loupe
is planning a return to her roots in Hawaii.
"It's a huge risk - to take ten years to build up again what I have
now," she worries. "But the
way we're living isn't sustainable."
She dreams of becoming active in the native Hawaiian homestead movement,
helping people descended from the islands' original inhabitants not just to
reclaim land but to reestablish community.
For Loupe, community is where it's at. "It's like what I found in CFA,"
she explains. "For the first time
at work I felt that sense of community.
We feel isolated so much of the time, and now instead we are colleagues
cooperating for the common good, working towards a common goal."
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