Her students loved her.

She taught French at a pricey Catholic university for 25 years until her unfortunate death…

At her funeral, the beloved professor was so poor that she was

“laid out in a simple, cardboard casket devoid of any handles for pallbearers.”

How could this be?

Well,  Madame Margaret Mary Vojtko was not a full-time professor at Duquesne University. She was an adjunct, a part time professor, which meant that she was paid little, received no benefits, and could be laid off at any time.

A combination of these things decided her fate.

Mary taught three courses a semester and two during the summer. No easy task. Not easy money.

She was making under $25,000 a year with no health benefits. Like so many low paid Americans, she struggled until…

She received her cancer diagnosis last year.

Now it became harder for Mary to pay her bills. To make matters worse, the university cut her down to one course a semester, reducing her income to a flimsy $10,000 a year. Her students loved her, but the university cited that she was no longer effective in the classroom. Then, this spring, they laid her off.

The devastation that followed – Mary’s fall into absolute poverty, her struggle to remain self-sufficient, and her eventual death on September 1 – has sparked national conversation.

Her image has become the symbol for a movement to improve the conditions of part-time professors, a group that CNN writer Gary Rhoades refers to as “the new working poor.”

#IAmMaryMargaret is the movement’s hash-tag on Twitter. In cities like Seattle, Boston, and Washington, part-time professors are mobilizing to earn better pay and benefits.

Madame Mary Margaret would be proud of all the cries of  Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

Vive la adjuncts!