Five years ago, the average faculty member at the University made about 20 percent less than faculty at peer institutions. Faculty salaries had long lagged behind those of comparable universities, so the University Senate decided to take action.
“Back in the late nineties, the economy was going like gangbusters,” said professor Michael Kellman, who served on the University Senate Budget Committee from 1999 to 2002. “But we were still falling further and further behind.”
By a unanimous vote, the body formulated and approved the University Senate Budget Committee White Paper in 2000. The paper outlined a tentative plan to augment faculty salary so that in five to seven years, average faculty compensation would stand at 95 percent of the average among peer institutions.
But it doesn’t appear the University has made much progress: Now in the fifth year
of the plan, faculty compensation stands at
86.2 percent of the average.
“We did better for the first few years, and now we’re going backwards,” said professor Nathan Tublitz, who served on the Senate Budget Committee that formulated the White Paper. “We’re losing ground.”
Several factors have hindered the plan’s implementation. In 2001, Oregon’s economy fell into a recession, and state allocations for universities decreased. In 2003, the state legislature decided to freeze salaries for all state employees, University professors included.
But Tublitz said “the University administration has completely shirked their responsibility in implementing the White Paper.”
This year’s University Senate Budget Committee Report described the faculty compensation issue as a “crisis.”
“Not only are senior faculty salaries no longer competitive with those to comparator institutions, but department heads are reporting difficulty in hiring new assistant professors,” the report said.
Professors maintain that the eroding faculty compensation damages more than their own bank accounts.
“At a certain point, this has to start to poison the atmosphere,” Kellman said.
Professor Stephen Hsu, current chair of the University Senate Budget committee, said low salaries have created problems not only with the recruitment of new talent but also with the retention of current senior faculty.
“There’s been a steady attrition of top people leaving the University,” Hsu said.
Kellman said the quality of academics at the University has slipped because of low salaries.
“The academic standing of the University’s department has declined,” he said.
At a University Senate meeting May 11, University Senior Vice President and Provost John Moseley responded to charges that the administration didn’t consider faculty compensation a priority.
“I absolutely place it as a top priority, and I am very concerned about the warnings that you give based on the numbers,” he said.
Moseley emphasized that the solution to the problem is not so simple.
“Let’s not get a message out that there’s some simple solution if the administration would just get off its rear end,” he said.
But Hsu said he questions the administration’s commitment to the White Paper guidelines.
“If the administration honestly prioritized it, they could find the money for this,” he said.
The implementation would
require $6 million per year, which Hsu said he believes is merely
incidental when compared to the University’s entire budget.
“It’s a very small amount compared to other expenses … in the University,” he said. “The $6 million … would come to about $300 for each student.”
Tublitz said reinvesting in faculty compensation wouldn’t necessarily mean taking money out of students’ pockets.
“We’re talking about raising faculty salaries instead of building a $200 million arena,” he said. “It’s not an issue of choosing salaries for faculty over services for students; … the higher administration can cut their salaries.”
Kellman said the University could use money from private sources to fund the increases.
“The University could enlist alumni, donors, supporters in an effort to solve this problem, but it doesn’t seem to make the effort,” he said. “It’s much easier not to rock the boat.”
Kellman added that other University investment endeavors cost
far more than what the University Senate is asking for.
“The University community is working toward a world-class arena — and that’s fine — but does almost nothing about the fact that faculty salaries are at the bottom of the heap,” he said. “Isn’t there something grotesque about the sense
of priorities?”

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