Well-Paid Presidents and Polite Professors
A UFWW Bargaining Update (printable pdf) (full size graph)
The contrast has
become too stark to politely ignore.
After one week of
amicable discussions, Western’s trustees reached
agreement with incoming president Bruce Shepard on a contract that will pay him
an annual salary of $300,000 – almost five times the average Western faculty
salary – and provide him an annual housing allowance ($55,200) larger than the
entire income of many Western professors. Western’s current president Karen Morse received an 8.2%
salary increase for 2007-08. For
2008-09, Bruce Shepard’s salary will be 23% more than President Morse’s. And let us not forget Dr. Shepard’s
$25,000 per year deferred compensation and his car allowance.
In
justifying Dr. Shepard’s compensation package, Western trustee Howard Lincoln
cited the market rate for presidents at institutions comparable to Western and
the need to compete in that market for the best talent.
The
salaries of Western’s faculty have continued to slip further behind those at comparable
universities nationally (see chart below) and now rank below the 30th
percentile among this group. In
comparison to salaries at the peer institutions chosen by the university’s
administration, Western faculty salaries are now near the bottom when local
costs of living are considered.
The effects of the university’s continual neglect of faculty salaries
are already being felt in failed searches and the loss of faculty who can no
longer afford to remain dedicated to Western.
Western’s
faculty and administration have been bargaining over a first contract for
sixteen months, with no end in sight.
The well-compensated lawyer and team of administrators sent by Western’s
trustees to negotiate with the faculty have offered a 4.5% increase for what is
left of 2007-08 and a 4.4% increase for 2008-09. In negotiating with the faculty, the members of the
administration bargaining team have never mentioned market rates or the need to
compete as they have grudgingly offered meager salary increases that would
leave Western falling even further behind its peers.
What
the administration’s bargaining team has expressed is a desire to use the money
that could be going to faculty salaries to add more administrators to an
already top-heavy administration.
Western has almost three times as many administrators per student as the
average of its peer institutions.
When asked during his visit to comment on the administrative structure
at Western, incoming President Shepard diplomatically described it as “robust.”
The
contrasts continue when we look beyond salary.
This
administration does not want to be held accountable with binding arbitration in
the grievance process. Six times
that same administration has been found guilty of breaking the law in its
treatment of Western’s classified staff.
This record makes it easy enough to understand why the administration
does not want to be held accountable.
The same record makes it impossible for the faculty to agree to a contract
without binding arbitration.
This
administration says it has no intention of raising faculty teaching load, but
will not agree to that in writing.
In a recent issue of the Western Front,
administration bargaining team member Buff Shoenfeld was quoted as saying that
the administration has “concerns” about not raising faculty teaching load
“because it could make it difficult to serve students in the future.” Once we get past the crude attempt to
pit faculty against students, this is a genuinely clarifying statement. It makes it clear that the
administration has every intention of addressing increased student demand by
raising faculty teaching loads rather than devoting more resources to the
instructional mission of the university.
It also makes it clear that the faculty cannot agree to any contract
that doesn’t keep teaching loads at their current levels.
Both
Board of Trustees Chair Kevin Raymond and incoming President Shepard have
remarked on how impressed they are with how polite the faculty has been even as
we have been treated with contempt by the administration. We hope that they have not mistaken the
innate good character and exemplary professionalism of this faculty for a lack
of resolve. This contract
will set patterns and precedents for years to come. We are determined to protect the integrity of the university
and the quality of our students’ education. We will not agree to a contract that threatens either one of
those things.
Our next mediation sessions are scheduled for Monday, May 12 and Tuesday, May 13. Now that the question of who will head Western has been resolved the trustees should turn their attention to the heart of the university and instruct their bargaining team to reach a fair contract agreement with the faculty. And these instructions should be specific so that it is clear to the administration bargaining team that a fair contract would serve the interests of the students and faculty, not just the administration. If we do not agree by mid to late May, we will not have time to ratify a contract before the end of the school year and the conclusion of this process will have to wait until President Shepard arrives in the fall. We hope that we are able to reach agreement, but there can be no doubt that no contract will be better than a bad contract.
We are not very
proud of this university right now, but we have never been more proud to be
members of this faculty.