Thinking for Money, or The Value of Time

I work as an assistant for an academic magazine called Media Ethics. While I will not divulge exact numbers, I will say that I am paid and the professors who act as editors and publishers are not. While I am probably not paid equal value for my work, my payment is probably in line with what other "academic assistants" are paid.

Again, without divulging specifics, I am usually not paid during the summer. I am usually expected to do minimal work (checking the mail, returning incoming calls, etc.) on something of a "volunteer" basis. However, this summer the magazine is moving its operations away from its base at Emerson College. My workload has increased with the move, and I finally decided to request payment for my summer work.

It was odd, requesting payment from people who work as volunteers on the magazine. Why am I paid while they are not? This brings up all sorts of questions about what work is worth, both monetarily and intrinsically (the respect, prestige, or satifaction you take from a job). And this is my best attempt to answer—not all those questions—but the simple question of why I should get paid while my bosses are not...

Professors (particularly tenured professors) are expected to contribute in some way to the academic community as part of their positions. This work may be writing, doing research, or working for the greater good of the university. A professor of mine once called the last one "being a good citizen", and for him, I think it consisted of attending poetry readings and making his classes do the same.

Sometimes this work is paid; other times it isn't. Payment is seldom equal to the work put in (for—say—writing a textbook), but there is usually some intrinsic value to your work (satisfaction, prestige, respect within your community, etc.). If nothing else, maybe you get invited to an annual conference in Aruba for your research on carpenter ants.

Students working as graduate assistants also contribute to the academic community in much the same way. They are not paid full monetary value for their work; however, they do receive valuable contacts and experience in exchange for their time. Maybe the professor they work for knows the editor at the local paper, which leads to future employment.

The difference in these situations is these: Professors are "salaried" in the same way management is in the private sector. This extra "contribution" is expected as part of the salary and part of the privilege of being tenured. Student assistants, conversely, work under contracts that are more specific about hourly requirements and payment.

Student assistants also receive less in terms of intrinsic value. There are only so many contacts and references you can cultivate, writing a book isn't equal to making copies, and you probably aren't going to Aruba.

My specific contract calls for specific work during the semester in exchange for a specific rate of pay. It also calls for minimal summer work without pay. Since I am going above and beyond the requirements of my contract during the summer months, it is not out of line for me to ask for increased compensation.

As a roommate of mine used to say, "my time has value." Of course, he used that line of reasoning to order takeout instead of cooking, but I'm pretty sure it applies here too.

The same professor who said that part of being a professor is "being a good citizen" also said that the freedom that comes with being a professor is more than worth the contributions you're expected to make. You can choose to explore issues in your chosen field, just as my professors have chosen to publish a magazine essentially in their free time.

My question then becomes: How much is that worth to them, and how much is my cut?