Margaret Mary Vojtko
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Margaret Mary Vojtko (January 15, 1930 – September 1, 2013) was an American
adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...
of French at Duquesne University. Her death caused controversy at Duquesne and prompted conversations about unions and the role of adjunct faculty at American universities.


Early life and education

Margaret Mary Paula Vojtko was born on January 15, 1930, to Catholic Slovak parents. She had five older siblings. Her father worked at Homestead Steel Works, a large steel mill once owned by Andrew Carnegie. Her father belonged to a
labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
that would later become the
United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...
. Her mother died when she was seven, and her older sister Anne helped raise her. Growing up, Margaret spoke mostly Slovak at home. She attended a high school run by the Vincentian Sisters of Charity and became a secretary at the University of Pittsburgh after graduation; at the time, she wanted to be a nun, although she later abandoned this plan. She remained a traditionalist Catholic throughout her life, however, and opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. After her father's death in 1957, Vojtko attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning a bachelor's degree in 1967 and a master's in 1970. In the mid-1970s, she began working on a doctoral degree from The Catholic University of America. She never completed her dissertation, which focused on the history of Homestead. She received a nursing degree in 1987.


Career

Vojtko taught courses in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and medieval literature at
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
and Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne before being hired at Duquesne in 1988. She taught at Duquesne for 25 years as an adjunct faculty member. She voted with a majority of other liberal-arts adjunct faculty members to unionize under the purview of the
United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...
, who had also represented her father. Duquesne has not recognized the adjunct faculty members' union, arguing that the university's religious nature exempts it from the oversight of the National Labor Relations Board. On April 2, 2013, Vojtko learned her teaching contract would not be renewed; she was instead offered a tutoring job that would have paid two thirds of what she made as an adjunct faculty member. Daniel Kovalik, an attorney for the United Steelworkers, was assisting Vojtko with a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the university had not rehired her because of her age or disability. In addition to her work as an academic, Vojtko did translation work on a
freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
basis, including in Slovak. She spoke five languages besides English, having majored in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and Italian as an undergraduate and having gained familiarity with
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
and Latin.


Death

On August 16, 2013, Vojtko suffered a large heart attack; she died two weeks later, on September 1, aged 83. She had previously been receiving treatment for cancer, and a reaction to pills she had been prescribed had caused her to have an earlier heart attack the previous year.


Controversy

At the time of her death, she had recently become unemployed after Duquesne declined to extend her contract. Particular attention has been paid to the university's labor practices following her death. She was removed from campus by police and dismissed from her work after sleeping in her university office; she was unable to heat her home due to medical bills incurred through taking chemotherapy to treat her ovarian cancer; lack of pension benefits had forced her to continue working until the age of 83 on a full or nearly full-time basis. Vice President for University Advancement John Plante described reports that the university did nothing to help Ms. Vojtko as 'reckless' and 'mischaracterizations': "Our defense is the truth. Mr. Kovalik has tried to frame this as an issue of human resources policy, but he is wrong...The support provided and offered to Margaret Mary Vojtko was broad, involving the Spiritan community, student housing, EAP, campus police, facilities management, and her faculty and staff colleagues." Rev. Daniel Walsh, a university chaplain, described reports of Vojtko's death as attempts to promote an 'alternative agenda' and said that she was provided with emergency housing on campus for a few weeks.


Reaction

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
English professor
Philip Nel Philip W. Nel (born March 29, 1969) is an American scholar of children's literature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is best known for his work on Dr. Seuss and ''Harry Potter'', which has led to hi ...
was among those who faulted Duquesne for treating Vojtko unfairly, suggesting that the university's not providing her with
health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...
contributed to her death. Representatives of the university defended their treatment of Vojtko, indicating that she had refused repeated offers of assistance from members of the university community. For a time, Vojtko lived in Laval House, a campus residence for
priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...
. Her funeral mass was held at Epiphany Church in Pittsburgh.


References


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vojtko, Margaret Mary 1930 births 2013 deaths Linguists from the United States Women linguists American medievalists Women medievalists American people of Slovak descent American traditionalist Catholics Carnegie Mellon University faculty Duquesne University faculty Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne faculty People from Homestead, Pennsylvania Catholic University of America alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni University of Pittsburgh faculty Historians from Pennsylvania American women historians Trade unionists from Pennsylvania