Wednesday, december 10, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 75
n
More money desired
Study f
By Betsy Miller
UNL is facing a case of cause and effect
that could have been taken from a logic
textbook.
Unfortunately, the effect will not be
beneficial to the school.
The cause is that UNL faculty salaries
appear significantly lower than the pay of
teachers at comparable universities.
The effect is that qualified professors
may be leaving UNL to find higher paying
jobs.
This was the tentative finding of a studv
titled "Talent Drain on the UNL Campus?"
and concluded in December 197 by John
(Yeswell, an associate professor of educat
ional administration at UNL.
inds professors may seek other jobs
The study involved 139 assistant,
associate and full professors who were
hired between 1977-79. The study showed
that 1 3 .8 percent of the teachers planned
to leave UNL by the fall of 1980.
Also. 31.9 percent were making appli
cations for employment elsewhere during
the 1979-1980 academic year.
And 61.8 percent said they were giving
serious thought to seeking other jobs,
while 61.4 percent said they would try to
find new jobs if conditions did not improve
in three years.
If Creswell's study is correct, then 30 to
47 professors should have left last fall,
compared with 13 the year before.
He has not done a follow-up study,
but he hopes to complete it shortly after
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Photo by Mark Biltingsley
Jody Weldon stands in front of the Nebraska Union to pay her respects to former
Beatle John Lennon. who was slain Monday night.
the end of semester break, he said.
According to Creswell's study, the fac
ulty listed higher salaries, better fringe
benefits and better research facilities as
factors they would look for when leaving
UNL for another college.
Creswell's observation that faculty will
leave because of poor pay is echoed by
John Robinson, chairman of the UNL
English Department.
Robinson said the department has lost
five "good people" in the last five years.
He quoted figures that rated pay levels
for 51 institutions that offer a Ph.D. in
English, as UNL does, and said that out of
the 51, UNL is 44th on the list for full
professors and associate professors pay and
42nd for assistant professors.
On the average, full professors at UNL
receive $3,792 less than full professors
at other schools, he said.
Robinson's department is not the
only one which is experiencing difficult
ies. Arthur Kraft, associate dean of the
College of Business Administration, said his
college has lost five faculty members in
the last six months.
In all five cases, Kraft said the teachers
left because they were offered more mon
ey. "The salary of one went from $20,000
to $25,000," Kraft said.
Because it is getting harder to find fac
ulty replacements, the quality of the col
lege suffers from the vacancies, according
to Kraft.
Also, enrollment in the business college
is increasing every year, so any faculty
scarcity does double damage, Kraft said.
Even when new faculty are hired, Kraft
said some disruption in classes occurs be
cause the new teachers must get comfort
able in the classroom-something the ex
perienced teacher already has done.
Salaries at UNL's College of Business
were rated below par according to a sur
vey by the American Assembly of Colleg
iate Schools of Business.
Although Kraft said salaries have been
low ever since he joined the staff six years
ago, the problem seems to be "more acute"
now.
The most recent documentation used
the faculty to show descrepancies between
salaries at UNL and other schools, is the
1979 report of the Faculty Salary Study
Committee.
The figures for the report were compil
ed by the UNL Office of Institutional Re
search and Planning.
Statistical technician Chris Lodes said
the data lists salaries department by de
partment for assistant professors and
other higher-ranking professors.
The other universities- representing
other land grant colleges belonging to the
Association of American Universities use
the same procedures to collect their infor
mation, so the comparison is accurate.
Lodes said.
The AAU-land-grant school are the
University of Illinois, Iowa State Univer
sity, Michigan State University, the Uni
versity of Minnesota, the University of
Missouri, Ohio State University, Purdue
University, the University of Wisconsin
and Pennsylvania State University.
The report showed that the average of
the nine other universiy salaries was
$24,670. The average UNL figure was
$22,327, -which translates to 9 percent
lower than what other colleges pay.
Administrators at UNL are attempting
to remedy the salary deficits.
The NU Board of Regents has approved
a university operating budget which would
increase faculty salaries 12 percent next
year.
This raise is part of a four-year program
to achieve parity between UNL salaries
and those at other universities, according
to Ezekial Bahar, president of the UNL
Faculty Senate.
The plan was developed by the admin
istration and the Faculty Senate, Bahar
said.
Before the budget can become effect
ive, however, it must first be passed by the
Nebraska Legislature, which may trim
quite a bit off the proposed funding.
Even if the 12-percent increase success
fully passes the Legislature, the salary prob
lem will not be entirely solved.
According to Bahar, the plan to achieve
salary parity in four years is based on pres
ent salary levels at other universities.
In four years, those salaries will probably
increase even higher.
"We're shooting at a moving target,"
Bahar said.
Despite the low faculty pay, UNL
faculty members do not seem to be making
too much fuss about salaries.
An attempt last year by some UNL fac
ulty to get the entire faculty body involved
with a collective bargaining agent was ap
parently halted by a lack of faculty interest.
Bahar, an engineering professor who has
been at UNL for 14 years, said the faculty
wants to be professional about the low
salary level.
Continued on Page 15
UNL official says plan shows progress, pitfalls
By Steve Miller
The Five-Year-Plan for the "guiding of the university
to a higher level of excellence" comes to an end this
month. The plan entitled "Toward Excellence," spanned
from 1975 to 1980.
Former NU President D.B. Varner said the plans and
suggestions in "Toward Excellance" were not finalized,
but were only guides for the university to grow by.
"The university must have an outline which will guide
it toward a fundamental objective: the restoration to its
role as one of the most distinguished academic institutions
in this part of the nation," Varner said.
Steve Sample, executive vice president of academic
affairs, said the document was more of a narrative than
a plan.
"It contained many aspirations." Sample said. "It
said what the university wanted to become."
The plan works off a series of assumptions concerning
the stature of the university within the state as well as
national status and appropriations and expansion.
Stated specifics
A set of 13 specific recommendations were stated in
the plan:
Ways and means for faculty development must be im
proved and utilized.
The university must continue to expand and improve
its knowledge of the teaching-learning process, and must
utilize this knowledge in the improvement of its teaching
programs, both on and off campus, with particular emph
asis at the undergraduate level..
The policy involving students in academic review and
decision-making should be continued and strengthened as
a stimulus to achieve higher levels of academic excellence.
-The university must strive to improve its national
stature as a research and graduate institution.
-As a continuation of its land-grant tradition, the uni
versity must improve and expand its outreach programs
throughout the state.
-Ways and means for implementing the regents' af
firmative action program must be unproved and expand
ed. -During the planning period, UNL will place particu
lar emphasis on agriculture and natural resources, life
sciences. law and development of the library.
-During the planning period. UNO wUI place partic
ular emphasis on developing the social and behavioral
sciences and related professions, urban ecology and fine
arts.
During the planning period. NU Medical Center will
place particular emphasis on education of health profes
sionals for practice in rural areas, expansion of medical
residencies in the primary-care areas, expansion of pro
grams in nursing, and improvement of specialized health
in the Midwest should be strengthened and expanded.
Relationships with other higher education institut
ions within the state should be expanded and improved.
-A comprehensive university wide, date-and-informat-ion
system must be developed, and with it more sophist
icated methods for allocating resources within the uni
versity. -Programs must be developed to greatly increase
contributions to the NU Foundation from alumni, friends
of the university, and corporations; and alumni identifi
cation with, participation in, and support for the uni
versity and its programs must continue to be improved.
Some improvement
Sample said the university has improved in some of
the areas. He said that contracts for research and grants
from corporations has improved.
The departments of agricultural and natural resources
has improved in national standing, Sample said. Also, fac
ulty productivity as far as scholarship, research and pub
lication has improved tremendously.
The stature of many of NU's faculty is far more ob
vious. Sample added.
"We've had some backsliding too," he said. "Our lib
rary is in serious jeopardy, as well as the entire physical
plant, in the way of preventive maintenance."
Sample also said there was catching up to do in the
areas of scientific and instructional equipment, faculty
vacancies and attracting graduate students.
"We've hired some good faculty members," Sample
said. "But we've lost some very good ones.
"In many areas our faculty salaries are substantially
below the market. In some areas they are so far below it's
alarming."