Impact of Part‐Time Faculty on Community College Student Success: An Analysis of Literature Using Foucault's Three Modes of Objectification

Abstract

As the reliance on part‐time faculty members in community colleges increases, it is imperative to understand their contributions toward student success. This article analyzes a large body of existing literature that examines the use of part‐time faculty and their impact on student academic outcomes. The article utilizes Foucault's three modes of objectification—scientific classification, dividing practices, and self‐subjection—to reveal the systemic social imbalances within higher education, especially in the community college context. Through this lens, it explores how these imbalances interfere with our understanding of the impact of part‐time faculty in community colleges on student success. The article concludes that relying on traditional student achievement metrics to assess faculty performance normalizes and reproduces the 4‐year university's stronghold as the arbiters of knowledge production, thereby subjecting staff and students to objectification. It calls for dismantling systemic barriers that prevent community colleges from achieving the goal of equity in higher education.