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Faculty Assembly

Salary Enhancement Committee
March 2000 Progress Report - Mark Malone

Steps in the process thus far:

Members of the faculty executive committee met early in the fall with Dennis Jones (President of NCHEMS) who is working for the CU System to create new comparison groups. At that time we requested that factors like the Cost of Living Index be considered for selection of peer groups. We were assured that this would be possible, at least as post hoc analysis.  Thus far we have not seen data broken out this way.

Members of the faculty assembly met with John Bliss, Vice President for Budget and Finance on November 18th. At this meeting I raised concerns about initial peer comparison groups because many schools were comparable
in terms of school size but not in terms community. Many schools in the initial group were not metropolitan areas or were located in less economically viable areas of the "Old South." As a result of this meeting, comparison groups were reconsidered. Some schools in the pool were changed.

In January we had our first full meeting of the Faculty Equity Committee.  The meeting was characterized by good will on the part of the administration. There was no real debate as to whether or not there was a problem, discussion centered on strategies for solving the problem. The need for data to make the case to UBAC and the Regents was seen as the next
necessary step. Data was requested but has been slow in coming. Some preliminary data are now available, but these are not yet in a form sufficient for our purposes.

At the February meeting of the Faculty Assembly, Chancellor Linda Bunnell Shade acknowledged the problem of salary equity.

On March 3, at the Faculty Assembly executive committee meeting. VCAA John Pierce announced that he had recommended to UBAC that $300,000 be used to solve problems of salary equity. This sum was divided into $200,000 for tenure track faculty and $100,000 for nontenure track faculty.

I met this week with VCAA John Pierce to discuss issues related to salary equity. At this meeting I got a first look at preliminary data available regarding salary equity. Information comes from three sources. Steve
Chambers office, the NCHEMS report, and the Regents. The data clearly shows that the issue of salary compression is real, but because of the way data is reported, it probably underestimates the severity of the problem.

I am skeptical about the data which has been compiled to date. The data glosses over the salaries of entire campuses. The real data that can help us in this cause is likely to be much "lumpier." We must be able to break out this area by schools, colleges, and professions. It would also be useful to know the relative "Cost of Living" in the Peer Comparison Groups not just whether we are above or below national averages. It is not clear whether the NCHEMS report or data gathered by the office of Institutional Research will be able to get at the required levels of clarity and specificity.

The remaining challenges are as follows:

Our committee must obtain data that is available and request data that has not yet been compiled. This data must be presented in the post logical and convincing manner possible for use by UBAC and the Regents.

UBAC must approve the recommendation of the VCAA. If you have any influence with this group, I suggest you use it now. If this money is allocated for other competing purposes, the opportunity will be lost. Any member of the UBAC committee will tell you that all sources of dollars are finite and there are always competing interests.

We must make a compelling argument with the Regents. Their rules restrict how salary enhancements can be spent. The data we have available thus far does not make this case well.

If we are successful in this effort, we must be prepared to make these same efforts again and again for several years. This problem was created over many years and will take many years to completely solve.

If having done all this, if we are not successful, more drastic measures must be considered. If medical doctors who work for our Kaiser medical plan can use collective bargaining, we should also consider whether such a move would be in our best interests.

Nominate people for officers in the faculty assembly, particularly the office of President-elect who are committed to issues of salary equity.