by Xyla Turner
We, the adjuncts, at FRU were not fond of Dr. Matthews since he did not like our contribution and was in the process of trying to actively get rid of us. We were currently writing a petition to him to sway his decision about our jobs. The union attempted to help us, but they seemed to have ulterior motives, so we started our own petition that we would address with him directly.
“Imara!” Someone called.
I turned around to see my co-worker and best friend, Liz, speed walking towards me. “Hey Liz, what’s good?”
She looked around at the scene, then turned up her lip. “You believe this guy?” She pointed at him with a balled-up fist and her thumb protruding out towards him. “He thinks because he is all Deion Sanders good looking, he can just come through here like a whirlwind and charm everyone.”
I nodded at Liz’s comment because our eyes were both glued to him. She exhaled loudly and murmured, “Damn, the man is fine though.”
“I know, shit.” I sighed, “Let’s go.”
We turned around to head back to our offices in the Butler building. “Do you think he’s going to actually fire all adjuncts at the beginning of the next semester?” Liz asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“I doubt it, but this man is unpredictable. He reminded me of Michelle Rhea when she became the School Chancellor in D.C.” I opened the door for Liz. “At that time, I understood why she did what she did; it was a broken system, but now since we are the ones that are directly being impacted, and I feel offended.”
Liz waited for me to come through the door, “Yeah, I remember that. She was the talk of the town. That’s probably what he is going for, publicity.”
“Ahh, I’m not sure that’s his motive. He seems to really believe what he is saying.” I countered.
Liz swiveled her head towards me, with a shocked look on her face. “Are you seriously taking up for him?” She snapped.
“No, I'm just honest,” I gasped. “Why would I take up for him, he’s ridiculous? All I’m saying is that he is passionate about what he is spewing like it is coming from an actual belief, not the watered down, presidential mumbo jumbo.”
“Hmm,” Liz barely responded. “Whatever.”
Shaking my head at Liz’s comment, I went into my closet they called an office. It was just big enough to hold a standard desk, my executive chair and two chairs on the other side of the bureau. The walls were beige, the floors were old wood that always creaked, and the windows were old. The campus did need reviving, just like the old building needed to be updated, but not at the cost of my job.
Liz followed me in to talk about her current boyfriend who would be nonexistent in a weeks’ time. Apparently, he wanted her to meet his friends and according to Liz, that was entirely too soon. Today, she was not into him like that and thought she might be into one of his friends. Typical Liz. She was a fair-skinned, white woman, 5’3 with 4” heels on at all times, makeup was always flawless, with bright green eyes and short blond layered hair. Every day, Liz looked like she stepped out of a photo shoot, getting ready for the runway but that was simply who she was besides one of my closest friends.
“Oh shit!” someone yelled outside in the central corridor.
“What happened?” Liz poked her head outside my office door.
“We all have letters.” The person said with fear etched in their voice.
Liz and I scrambled out of the office, along with every other adjunct that was in hearing distance. Each mailbox held a letter, cased in FRU official envelopes with our names typed on the front. Quickly snatching mine, I opened it and briefly read it over. There was to be a meeting with the department chair, the President, and myself in one week to discuss current and future employment. As I looked around, panic was on the faces of all of my colleagues, as we had similar letters and our worst fears were coming to pass. We would meet with our respective chairs and the President. Surely, it was to determine the continuation of our positions. He made it clear that he did not want adjuncts so he would start the process to fade them out. For some of us, this was our only source of income or contribution to our households. If he eliminated our jobs, there was only one other community in the area. At that moment, I was scared because I needed to start looking for a job right away.
Love Under Attack: You want a cookie?
Imara Winters:
On my way home, I stopped at the local chicken spot to get some nuggets, those waffle fries, and my favorite lemonade. I should not have, but that was how I decided to treat myself after a taxing day and with the arrival of that letter. My weight was consistent and I’ve worn a size ten since I could remember buying my own clothes. The waffle fries were gone by the time I reached my rented house. Usually, I purchased the kids meal, but I was super hungry, so I went for the eight count. Within twenty minutes, all the food was gone and I felt somewhat satisfied.
Doran was out of town, so he wasn’t around to satisfy me in other ways, but he would be back in a few days. We had been seeing each other for two months. He was an engineer who traveled a lot to various parts of the state. We met online and just clicked. He had aspirations beyond being a low-level engineer, even though he made six figures. He wanted to run his own plant, which I totally respected. All of this was fine with me because I didn’t want a boyfriend who was up around me all the time. Doran was slightly overweight, but that didn’t bother me because our compatibilities were more important. He wasn’t really a good lover, as he only had a couple of positions: on top and from the back. He was a little too out-of-shape to do much else. That too was okay with me because the man had an honest job and worked towards reaching his goals. My last boyfriend was a pothead and had no aspirations. Doran was a step up.
Liz disagreed and felt like I was settling. She and I started at FRU three years ago. We met at the adjunct orientation and clicked right away. At first, I was a little put off by her bubbly personality but once we talked, she shared she was from Philadelphia and that she rocked (her words) with the best and worst of them; we were cool from there. She was just as blunt, compassionate and truthful as I was. It was a match.
I never disagreed with her sentiment of me settling for Doran, but I didn’t think he was that bad. He had dreams and ambitions and so did I. Liz thought his ‘order’ for his life did not make me a priority. So, we only talked on the phone for an hour, he would come visit me on certain days since he was working on his plan the other days, and he even had a calendar of his schedule. I thought it was good to coordinate using modern technology, it felt like we were an evolved couple. Therefore, Liz and I agreed to disagree on the topic of Doran.
The week flew by and I was one hour away from meeting with the President and my department chair, Dr. Meyers. Apparently, the other meetings were not so good. He either told them this was their last semester or they could apply for an Assistant Professor position, but there were no guarantees. He was actually getting rid of all the adjuncts and this semester was going to be our last one. I was livid. I didn’t want to go to the meeting because I felt like I was a pot boiling over, this man had no right to do such a thing. Liz said that I had to go if I wanted to remain there for the rest of the semester and since my students needed me to finish this out for them, not him. She could sure be rational when needed because I was not planning on going.
The President’s secretary signaled for me to go into his office. I walked in and Dr. Meyers was already in there talking with him.
The President noticed me and rose, “Ah, Ms. Winters, please come on in and have a seat.”
Dr. Meyers stood and greeted me with a smile. I nodded towards him and sat in the opposite chair, so we were slightly facing each other and Dr. Matthews was behind his desk, facing us.
“How are you doing these days?” Dr. Matthews asked.
“Fine.” I provided no other comments.
“Good, that is good to hear. So, we are calling all the adjuncts in to meet about the future of FRU. When I took over, the morale was down, students weren’t graduatin
g, staff were barely working, and we were over budget in every area. The Board has entrusted me to fix these problems and one of the ways which I’ve decided to do that includes letting some people go, restructuring many departments and phasing out unnecessary job positions.” He looked at me intently.
I hoped I wasn’t glaring at him, but suspected I was. He picked up the folder in front of him, opened it and said, “I see here that you’ve been with us for three years, your background is in education, and you have received high ratings from your students consistently since you’ve been here. Wow, that’s impressive.” He looked up at me, as I continued to stare back in silence. He inhaled, “As I’m sure you are aware, we are phasing out all adjunct positions this semester. We have asked a select few of those professors to apply for an assistant professor position. Dr. Meyers here,” he waved towards Meyers, “has highly recommended you for the one Assistant Professor position in the English Department. He has been impressed with your work ethic and that is what we need here at the new FRU.”
He smiled at me.
God, the man looked good smiling, but I could not even focus on that because he, in essence, was firing me at that moment. Dr. Meyers chimed in, “Imara, you know I think highly of your work, the students love you, so I’d really like you to consider this position. We haven’t offered it to anyone yet, so it’s open just for you at this time.”
I looked at Dr. Meyers, who was an older white man with thinning gray hair over his ears and around the back of his head. “Thanks, Dr. Meyers, I appreciate your sentiments. I’ve loved working with you.”
He frowned, “So you won’t consider the position?”
“I’d rather talk to you alone about that, Dr. Meyers.”
Dr. Matthews seemed surprised. “You don’t care to discuss this in front of me, even though I’m the one who makes the final decision?”
“No,” I replied and turned my gaze to Dr. Meyers.
“Dr. Meyers, would you excuse us for a moment?”
Meyers looked befuddled and who could blame him. If anyone should be excused, it should be me, the little ‘ole adjunct. Meyers nodded his head and stepped out into the hall. Matthews stood up from his chair and sat in Meyers’ seat.
“You don’t like me much, do you Ms. Winters?” he kept his face blank.
“I don’t know you to not like you, Dr. Matthews. What I do not like, is what you are doing.”
“I get that, but it’s not being done to you. You are the only one whose entire department was adamant that you be offered a position out of this, no one else.”
“So, that should make me happy?” I started to raise my voice. “How do you sleep at night? Firing everybody and their mama. People that have been here longer than before you were even born. They lived and breathed this place and here comes the great dark knight, casting down judgment and mayhem across campus.” Dr. Matthews leaned back, but I was on a roll.
“I should be happy. You know what you can do with that job, Dr. Matthews?” I emphasized ‘doctor,' “Shove that AP job up a hole because that is exactly where I will never go to get in your good graces. You have fired my friends, people I’ve come to cherish here, and now you’re acting like I should be grateful for what ‘you have given me’…Oh, hell no!” I exclaimed. “You can keep that shit.” I stood up to gather my things.
He stood with me. “So, today’s your last day?”
I turned around and nearly fell because he was directly behind me. He reached out and grabbed me by the waist to keep me from falling. “I-is it?” I stuttered as I gathered my bearings and stepped away from him.
He didn’t seem angry with me, but intrigued. “Assuming by the way you just talked to me, I figured you had a plan of today being your last day.”
“If you think I’m going to quit, then I absolutely will not.” I looked defiantly at him, “Now if you want to fire me, that is your prerogative.”
He lifted one side of his lip, “You’re feisty.” It looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t.
Raising an eyebrow at him, “I’m more than that.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he murmured.
“What?” I asked.
“Why don’t you just take the job?” he asked.
“That’s like asking me why I don’t just sell my soul.”
“Imara, it is not that bad.” He looked reflective, “I’m not that bad.”
I raised my eyebrows at that statement and said, “That’s Ms. Winters to you.”
“Ah, it is me that you don’t like.”
“What gave you that clue?”
“Fine, this is your last semester here, Ms. Winters,” he emphasized the ‘Ms.’ “If I hear of any disgruntled noises that even sound like they are coming from you, that will be your last day here.”
I glared at him, “Did you want me to salute you too, Dictator Matthews? Or would a simple, ‘Yes, sir work?”
I slung my purse over my shoulder and started to walk towards the door. “Thank you, Dr. Matthews.” I finished as I slammed the door and ran into Dr. Meyers.
He gasped, “What did you say?”
I smiled at the old man, “Nothing I’d ever repeat to you.”
There were no scheduled classes for me that day, so I drove home, called Liz to tell her how I royally screwed up and grabbed a bottle of wine. Liz was in shock and asked what possessed me to lose my shit on the freaking President. I told her that people were fired and it wasn’t right, but he was acting like I should be thankful about what was being offered to me. Patronizing me, like he was doing me a favor. Screw him. Liz felt like I needed to make things right, but I told her I’d rather look for a new job because working on the same campus with the likes of him would not happen.
I tried to call Doran, but he sent my call to voicemail and texted back that he was busy and he could not break his schedule to talk now.
That hurt.
I really needed to talk to him about this and he could not take the time out to answer me. Pressing the buttons to call him again, I thought he should hear just how angry I was.
“What is it that you want? Imara, I’m on a schedule.” Doran sounded exasperated and out of breath.
He was speaking to me like he would a child. Where did he get off? I had a really terrible day and this was what I got with my significant other?
“Doran, I was almost fired today and you are talking to me about your stupid schedule.” I gritted my teeth.
“You know this already. This is nothing new. I need to stick to my schedule,” he explained.
“Did you hear anything that I just said, Doran? I was almost fired today.” I yelled into the phone. “Did you hear that?”
“I heard it, but did you hear what I said?” He sighed. “We have an agreement. On certain days we talk and on others you let me do what I need to do so we can secure our future together.”
My ears were hot because I could not believe the nonsense that just came out of his mouth. He still had yet to ask what happened. I was DONE.
“You know what, Doran?” I said, calmly. “You are right. We had an agreement, but I’m going to amend it a little for us to secure our future and all.” I walked into the kitchen and put my purse on the counter. “My amendment is, as of now, we are no longer together. Our contract is null and void. There will be no need to talk any further from this point on because our futures will be secured, separately. Goodbye!”
After I had hit the end button, I shut my phone completely off. My anger had almost entirely boiled over, so I grabbed a wine glass and begin to drink my fill. After my second refill, I retired to bed because I actually did have to teach a class tomorrow, and being hung over with hard to reach students was not a good combination.
Despite my efforts to not feeling like crap the next day, it was here and I felt like crap. I am positive it was more from exhaustion than being hung over, but what mattered is that I was not 100%. Therefore, I had my first class doing group work, which was good because it did not require
me to be the sage on the stage. Twenty minutes before the class was over, Dictator Matthews walked into my classroom and took a seat in the corner. I looked at him and tried not to bristle. What the hell was he doing here? I’m sure it was to fire me today.
“Class, please stop what you are doing and let us acknowledge our own President of the University, Dr. Matthews,” I said very professionally.
“To what do we owe this pleasure?” I slightly smiled as all eyes were on him.
“I’ve heard great things about this class and I just wanted to come and partake. Please do not mind me.” He slightly smiled back.
“Carry on, class. You have five minutes until presentations.”
Continuing to walk around the class and check on students work, I noticed that he was not in his seat anymore. He was walking around and helping the students in groups. They were laughing but working. I internally groaned. All the students liked him because he came off as personable and relatable. He looked like he could charm a damn snake. I think I read somewhere that he started at a community college and then went to a couple of Ivy League schools. That is a great accomplishment, but he was still an asshole.
My phone alarm went off, causing a jump from most of the students, also causing me to grab my head as the headache was wearing off, but still lurking. The alarm was to alert me that it was time for the students to demonstration their work.
“Alright class, let’s get started with Group A– you are up.”
Group A presented their news segment on the cold winter using props like umbrella’s, gloves, and hats. It was cute. Group B showed their news section on the pros and cons of four-year colleges. They even interviewed Matthews as the “community advocate.” That was quite cute as well. Group C presented their news segment on the crime rate in Far Rockaway and the reason for the decline. This one was quite informative and professionally done.