My sister-in-law works as an adjunct at a local college. A few professors have retired as a result of COVID concerns (they’re back in person). Instead of hiring new faculty, drawing from any of the pool of long-standing adjunct staff, they’re instead just replacing them with more, new adjuncts.
I expect the future of American colleges and universities will follow this trend, where bloated administrations preserve their position and make the academic labor more and more precarious.
It's a common trend because adjuncts can easily work near or below minimum wages when factoring in time commitments and nature of the job.
It's not just universities and tenured professor positions, businesses are attacking labor and pushing hypercompetitive behavior on labor everywhere because it's become common acceptable business practice now.
Many of these trends you see have been going on for quite some time, COVID has really just acted as an accelerant on the dumpsterfires raging through our country.
When I worked at a research corporation connected to a university, one of the deans asked me to adjunct a few times. I checked the comp and it was laughable. I could make more money and have less stress and overtime working at a stable minimum wage position and this was for a doctoral position. The problem is, for some people it's the only option or the best option for their career.
I expect the future of American colleges and universities will follow this trend, where bloated administrations preserve their position and make the academic labor more and more precarious.