Non-Tenure Track Teachers Rally for the Future of Loyola

In an ongoing battle between the Non-Tenure Track (NTT) faculty and Loyola administration to afford instructors improved working conditions, faculty across the board met at the traffic light on Sheridan to call attention to their cause at 11 a.m. Oct. 28.

Joined by officers of the Youth Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and members of SEIU Local 73, the rally was originally meant to take place outside of Cuneo Hall, but at the last minute, NTT received an email from administration requesting them to move off campus for the “safety of students,” according to Williams. They moved to public property, the sidewalk at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Neil Hartigan Parkway. 

The rally began in earnest at 11:16 a.m. when advanced lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Full-time Faculty Co-Chair Matthew Williams took the microphone to kickstart the rally with 30 demonstrators. They spent over 30 minutes advocating for their cause and disbanded at 11:50 a.m. to head to the fourth floor of Cuneo for a bargaining session with the administration, which would go until 4 p.m.

“At Loyola University of Chicago, we are a community that welcomes debate and differing views to advance education and understanding. We embrace these forums and discussions as long as they are collegial, respectful, and safe, in keeping with our existing campus policies,” A Loyola spokesperson wrote in an email to The Phoenix. “The University remains committed to good faith bargaining and reaching mutual agreement that is fair to all faculty and staff while also upholding the University’s responsibility to students and the broader University community.”

Part-time instructor Carl Shook spoke after Williams. He spoke of his love for Loyola and about what drew him to the university in the first place.

“My students know that a quality education, accessible for all, is a force for good,” Shook said to the crowd.

The third speaker, Executive Vice President of SEIU Local 73 Jeff Howard said he thinks it was important for YDSA to join in the fight for the NTT faculty’s three main issues — job security, fair wages and reduced workload. He said though the union was making incremental progress, they’re still far apart from the administration on key issues.

“Loyola can do all these things,” Howard said. “They don’t have to do one or the other.”

As a second-year, YDSA Co-Chair Maevi Broadrick said they’ve mainly had NTT instructors thus far in their education at Loyola.

“They deserve to have time to live, and they don’t,” Broadrick said.

YDSA joined the fight for improved conditions for NTT last year when the administration stopped sponsoring green cards for two professors. Broadrick said the organization’s campaign to build a sanctuary campus is interconnected with the struggle for labor.

After being in contact with the union for a while through a group chat, which included YDSA student reps and a few NTT faculty members, they managed to “securely organize” the rally a couple of weeks ago, according to Broadrick and YDSA secretary and second-year history major Stella Weber.

Weber said she thinks YDSA’s social media engagement fosters outreach to the student body, which she attributed the student presence at the rally to. The union faced Sheridan, and students crowded along the edge of the sidewalk, backs facing traffic and holding flyers handed to them by union volunteers.

The rally was recorded and posted to Facebook by SEIU Local 73.

Among the students was Jonathan Villanueva, who said he was in his philosophy class on the third floor of Mundelein when his classmates and professor heard the chanting from outside. His professor provided the class with the option to leave class early around 11:30 a.m. to observe the rally.

Full-time instructor in the Department of Philosophy Michael Paradiso is on an 88-line contract, which means his employment doesn’t necessarily renew year by year. Paradiso has been in this position for two years now and teaches four classes per semester. As Villanueva’s professor, he thought the rally could serve as an optional “case study” for his Philosophy 181 students.

“They said ‘What’s going on out there?’ and I said, ‘Hm, let’s find out,’” Paradiso said.

Paradiso started working at Loyola in 2013 as an adjunct professor and was part-time right before COVID hit during the 2018-2019 academic year. In between, he became a high school teacher. He’s been full-time since 2024.

Paradiso said the compensation for full-time NTT instructors makes it so he needs a second job, which he gets permission from the university for. He teaches at another school in Chicago.

Paradiso said he is “mid-level” involved in the union’s operations. He invited colleague David Ingram to speak at the rally. Ingram is Loyola’s president of the American Association of University Professors.

Ingram spoke about what it means to be a union in the context of the NTT faculty — prioritizing basic living conditions for educators.

The rally wrapped up at 11:50 a.m., and the party proceeded to Cuneo. Paradiso attended the bargaining session which followed the rally from 12-4 p.m. There, the administration laid out their reasoning for the answers they gave to the union’s requests and proposals.

“We found some of those reasons to be a little cherry-picked,” Paradiso said. “So we will try our best to come back with more information from a wide variety of sources to justify our reason for why we would like better compensation and different kinds of benefits sent our way.”

Richard Gilbert is a part-time faculty member who teaches in the honors program. As is the nature with part-timers, he said, he also occasionally teaches in the theatre and English departments. Whatever classes are available, he takes them and has been since 2019.

Each instructor drew a clear line between Loyola as a “university” and Loyola as the “administration.”

“I frequently say the ‘univeristy,’ what I mean is the administration,” Gilbert said. “We shouldn’t say ‘Loyola is doing this.’ We’re Loyola. You’re Loyola. The faculty, the students, the staff, the people who do the jobs of teaching and learning, that’s the university. The administration is the administration.”

Gilbert mentioned the demands for changes to the workloads faculty bear. With his two class teaching load, he already works 30 hours each week and said he can’t imagine how the full-time faculty, who teach four classes each semester, manage.

“That’s a big part of what’s great about Loyola, that faculty and students work together to make sure that everyone succeeds,” Gilbert said. “It’s hard to do that when you’re overworked and underpaid.”

YDSA reached out to several student organizations to ask if they’d want to participate in the rally. None responded. Broadrick declined to comment on the specific organizations, not wanting to “put a target on anyone’s back.”

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article labeled YDSA as the “Youth Democratic Socialist Association.” The article was updated Oct. 31, 2025 to reflect the organization’s correct title, “Youth Democratic Socialists of America.”

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article didn’t include a statement from a university spokesperson. The article was updated Oct. 31, 2025 to include one.