Low salaries, poor morale
besiege other universities
By Dorothy Pritchard
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln is not alone in its problems
with faculty salaries.
Several land-grant universities
are experiencing similar problems
with low salaries or benefits, low
morale, high turnover, and a loss of
the best faculty members to the
private sector.
Gerald Brouder, vice provost of
the University of Missouri-Co
lumbia, said low salaries there
make faculty feel “undervalued”
and lead to high turnover.
“In many cases we’re losing our
best and our brightest to industry
and other universities,” Brouder
said. The university is becoming a
training ground, he said. “After
tenure, they’re incredibly market
able.”
In many cases, assistant profes
sors arc hired at a salary higher or
only slightly lower than those at
the higher rank of associate profes
sor, Brouder said. That can cause
dissatisfaction among faculty
members. But it is necessary, he
said, to keep salaries competitive.
Although faculty members arc
“not solely after the buck,”
Brouder said, the feeling of being
undervalued has led to increased
faculty turnover.
To provide more money for
faculty members who do research,
Brouder said, Missouri gives some
of the grant money for a specific
research project back to the re
searcher. That way, instead of re
turning the entire grant to the
general operating budget, the re
searcher can buy new lab equip
ment or hire a teaching assistant.
Robert Furgason, UNL vice
chancellor for academic affairs,
said UNL docs the same thing. It’s
just one of several techniques used
to attract and keep facullv.
UNL Salaries arc the lowest
among the American Association
of Universities’ land-grant institu
tions.
Walter Touscy, associate vice
chancellor for academic affairs at
the University of Illinois-Cham
paign, said that although salaries
there arc the highest of the 11
universities in the group — about
$54,000 for a full professor— the
benefit package is lower than at the
other institutions. In addition, the
university received no increase
from the Illinois Legislature this
year. Touscy said that although the
University of Illinois had “three or
four" really good years of appro
priations, no increase this year has
hurt morale.
“The morale is not particularly
good," he said. “It’s always a
matter of ‘What have you done for
me lately?’"
Faculty turnover has not been a
problem at the University of Illi
nois, Touscy said. Since 1969, the
university has lost about 3 or 4
percent of the faculty to other uni
versities.
“We don’t (have a problem
with turnover) now, but give us
one more year of level salaries and
we will," he said.
Touscy also said the high sala
ries at the University of Illinois
often mask its poor benefit pack
age.
Benefits at the university arc
only 12 percent of faculty mem
bers’ total salary, the lowest per
coinage in the 1 i schools in the
AAIJ group. UNL’s benefit pack
age is 18 percent of the salary. The
highest benefit packages are at the
University of Mary land-Col lege
Park and the University of Minne
sota — 25 percent of the salary.
“High cash masks the low bene
fits,” Touscy said. “Once you
throw in benefits, some schools
will pass over us.”
Margaret Pickett, budget offi
cer at Iowa State University and
assistant to ISU’s vice president
for business and finance, said offi
cials there face problems similar to
those at UNL.
T think our turnover is not
necessarily any higher... but more
senior faculty arc going,” Pickett
said
While some faculty members
leave for jobs in private industry,
she said, it is more “disturbing to
lose them to other universities.”
This year’s ISU faculty pay
increase of 12 percent will help
combat part of the problem, Pick
ett said.
Non-resident student tuition at
Iowa Stale increased 20 percent
this year, she said, and resident
tuition went up 12 percent. The
tuition increase will help raise
faculty salaries this year, Pickett
said, but the problem will take
some time to correct.
"There is a problem, but we're
taking steps to reverse that," Pick
ett said.
Pickett said that although Ne
braska considers Iowa as part of its
peer group, Iowa does not compare
its salaries and programs to those
at Nebraska and some of the other
AAU land-grant universities. Iowa
ranks last in salaries in what it
considers its peer group, which
includes the University of Califor
nia-Davis, Texas A&M and North
Carolina Slate.
“Yes, I would say there is a
morale problem,” she said. “But
there is no mass exodus.”
A spokesman for the University
of Wisconsin-Madison said fac
ulty morale is “reasonable,” but
other problems — like the intru
sion of the state legislature into
university programs — have low
ered faculty morale.
Hove said Wisconsin received
S8 million from the Legislature a
couple of years ago in a “catch-up
exercise” for faculty salaries. It
.. rmnrAnnntiAn
W4i:> « V UIUUOIV uppiv/pi .m.w..,
Hove said, but a 2 percent increase
from the Legislature this year and
another 2 percent next year will not
keep Wisconsin’s salaries abreast
of other universities’.
UNL’s Furgason said one of his
biggest concerns is the increasing
number of faculty members who
will retire in the next five to 10
years. Graduate schools across the
country arc turning out too few
students to satisfy the demand for
faculty, he said.
“1 consider the salary issue to be
a very serious thing confronting
the University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln and die suite of Nebraska,”
Furgason said. “That trend just
must be reversed. It must be.”
Although some schools in
UNL’s peer group have increased
tuition and earmarked the extra
revenue for salaries, Furgason
said, UNL students already have
done their share. For the seven
years between the 1978-79 and
1983-86 school years, the increase
in suite tax dollars to the university
was 48 percent. In the same time
period, tuition increased 92.9 per
cent.
“How much more should you
ask from the students?” Furgason
said. “It’s the stale that has been
lagging. You can increase tuition,
but you won’t solve the problem.
Union's Burger King manager anticipates
no harm to business from student center
BUSINESS from Page 1
students or faculty members may have
for services they want in the building.
The Interfraternity Council has sug
gcstcd meeting rooms, he saia.
“I’ve always wanted to do a project
on or near campus,” Hunter said.
The private see tor always has made
many services available to the univer
' — c/
Students injured by snowballs
SNOWBALL from Page 1
The exact number of students treated
at the University Health Center was
unavailable Monday night.
Lt. Lyle Roberts of the Lincoln
police department said no students
were arrested as of 11 p.m. Monday,
but arrest would be made if necessary.
No one was arrested Sunday night,
according to Lt. Ken Cauble of the
UNL police department.
Windows proved to be a tempting
target for students Sunday night.
A window on the west side of the
south entrance to the Walter Scott
Engineering Center was broken, caus
ing $300 in damage, Cauble said.
Seven windows were broken in the
Delta Upsilon house on 1548 Vine St.
S600 in damage resulted from the
broken windows, Baird said. Some
broken car windows were also re
ported, he said.
A window was also broken in
Room 244 in the southwest corner of
the second floor of Abel Hall.
Jay McCormick, one of the resi
dents of the room, said he expected
something to happen since “we
trashed a bunch of frat houses last
year.”
McCormick said the window was
broken at about 11 p.m. Sunday.
Monday night several windows of
Greek houses also were broken.
UNL police estimated that
Sunday’s fight started around 9 p.m.
Sunday and ended about 2 a m. Mon
day.
Caublc said the police tried to
break up Sunday’s fight at about 10
p.m. I hey told some students that it
“wasn’t a good idea,” and thought the
disturbance had ended, but “then it
started up again,” Caublc said.
UNL police warned some students
that they could be cited for creating a
disturbance, he said.
About midnight Sunday Lincoln
police closed off 16th and 17th streets
between R and Vine streets and Vine
street between 14th and 17th sircets,
according to Capt. Jim Baird of the
Lincoln police department.
Baird said he did not know if clos
ing off the streets posed a problem to
students returning from vacation.
The worst snowball fight occurred
in 1981 when 10 people were arrested
according to police reports. Last year,
more than S2,0()0 in damage was
reported.
UNL Is On A Roll
1 .J. ( innanion s will bring your And Jo help prepare you for finals, get » «
favorite cinnamon rolls every a FREE cinnamon roll t his Wednesda\
Wednesday and Thursday to ltith and Thursday,
and Vine St. from 8:00 a.in. to * v
11:00 a.m.
Come Hear What All
The Talk Is About!
SIDEKICK
is back at Chesterfield s!
Dance to great 60’s and 7()’s music as
SIDEKICK rocks you this Thursday and Friday!
NO COVER CHARGE
"One of the best bands I've ever heard,"sez Brady
Chesterfield’s.. .13th & Que
HCMHOIHO!
Holly Jolly Savings From Santa's Helpers y
This Christmas, give the Best at
_the Best Price ever...
$20 Rebate
These top-of-the-line products offer the quality and
sophistication you can expect from Hewlett-Packard.
For business professionals - the 111*
Business Consultant.
For technical profes ionals - The Hl*-28'\
Menus, softkeys and a volatile array of built-in
functions make it easy to • ve even the most com
plex problems. So give tin - a this Christmas
At the best pnee ever. Com* in for details today.
This offer in good on purchaxen made between Xot I .IMS 7 and Dec. HI .1 MS 7.
%Sk rn-np calculators Help you vvork smart.
Open Mon-Fri 8-5:30 Sat. 9 5 30 Thurs til 9pm
more than a Bookstore.
SK-™ 1300 Q Street (402)4700111
