Dear Gina,
Thank you for the opportunity to read “Hypocrisy.” Your story was a favorite of the fiction editorial staff and just an overall beautiful piece of writing. Unfortunately, we won’t be publishing it.
As you know, University Literary Journal is sponsored by our university’s English department, and as such, we are sensitive to the needs of our fellow professors trying to outrun the “publish or perish” dysfunction of higher education. We couldn’t help but notice in your bio that you are an adjunct professor, which means if we published your piece, we would be taking space away from someone who desperately needs it more than you do. Obviously we understand that you can’t secure tenure-line employment without publications yourself, but our magazine has certain values we must adhere to, and we value writers who have successfully avoided toiling in the adjunct ranks.
We know this is likely very frustrating, but the majority of our subscribers are tenure-line faculty who use their taxpayer-funded professional development monies to purchase our exorbitantly priced subscriptions. Adjunct faculty generally cannot afford our us, so our decision to not publish your work comes down to a financial decision as well. We hope you understand.
In the event you are hired into a tenure-line position before the close of our next two submission periods, we invite you to submit new work. Our next two submission periods are themed: “Capitalism Kills Art” and “Equity in Academia.” Any work reflecting those themes will be considered. And remember, we nominate for Pushcart Prizes because most university provosts have no idea what that means, so it’ll look good on your application for tenure.
Sincerely,
Dr. XXXX (name redacted)
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Gina Hanson is an adjunct professor. She holds an MFA in fiction writing, which means she teaches Freshmen Comp. When she’s not killing it at being a failed academic, she’s rescuing senior and hospice animals with her wife.
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image: MM Kaufman
Rejection Letters 