Tuesday, November 9. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Kansas professors' wages falling behind
Continued from page 1A
The Facts
Since 1971, when professors were paid an average of $13,939 a year, KU salaries have risen 316.5 percent to their current mean of $58,600. While some professors are paid more than most jobs in Western Kansas, they are not paid as much as their peers at colleges in other states. And that's a big problem.
"Faculty members want to be compensated at certain levels with their achievements." Hemenway said.
Administrators blame increasing operating expenses and miserly funding from the state legislature as the main reasons for the salary problems.
Average faculty salaries for all levels have fallen to 87 percent of their peers, said Provest David Shulenburger.
"It's happened because Kansas hasn't raised salaries at the same rates," he said. "We haven't kept up with the market. The state hasn't chosen to allocate money to faculty and salaries."
The longer professors have been at the University, the more their salaries have suffered. Associate professors are paid more competitively than their older counterparts because of competition for new faculty. Shulenburger said.
"When we recruit faculty members, all of the money comes out of the same pool, so we don't have enough money to catch up existing faculty members." he said.
Frost Mason said her college had increased its fund raising to compensate for the lack of state money.
"Senior professors aren't making more than junior professors, and they're not happy," she said. "Professors are most vulnerable at mid-career. After tenure, when their careers are booming, they only see a 2 percent increase. Other colleges call them up; professors apply, and they get a job."
Shulenburger said about 50 new faculty members were hired a year — many because their predecessors took a job at a different college that would pay them more. Professors at the University agree.
"The state of Kansas needs to see the benefit of paying me," said Cindy Larive, associate professor of biology.
The Bad News
Last year, Frost Mason said her college lost a record number of professors, and the same thing may happen again this year. She said money was one of the top three reasons professors left.
"If we pay more competitive salaries, our infrastructure suffers," Frost Mason said. "Compounded, it's not a good situation."
Leimkuhler, associate professor of mathematics, is one of Frost Mason's departing professors. He is moving to the University of Leicester in England where
Comparison of average salaries
Kvle Ramsev/KANSAN
he will receive more assistants to help him continue his research.
"The most frequent reason you leave is because you see better opportunities for developing your research," he said. "If I could have hired two more assistants with the same salary, it could have been possible for me to stay."
Even though Leimkuhler said the raise wasn't fundamental in his leaving, he needed for the University to supply him with more staff, something the University can't afford.
The package of more money and staff is very attractive. Frost Mason said.
"There isn't any good news from the legislature or the government because since they spent so much money on tax rebates, they ran into deficits, and they will have to cut the budget," she said. "It will be impossible to keep increasing salaries."
"If a department asks, CLAS responds." Frost Mason said. "We can put together packages, and sometimes we are able to keep them. We always try to stop them if we can, but it's not easy. By the time the individual has applied, they are tired of the living conditions here, or they have such a good opportunity somewhere else."
The University can try to stop professors from leaving, but it's hard.
For Leimkuhler, it was too late. He met with his department chairman, who was unable to change several factors instrumental in Leimkuhler decision to leave.
"The University has been supportive of my research and development as an assistant professor," he said. "But since I've obtained tenure, they can't support me at the level that is required."
Leimkuhler said it was conceivable that he could return to teach at the University, but when he does, he may encounter the same salary problems.
"People would stay for more money," he said. "It's a problem of morale. You get worn down after a while."
As Frost Mason said, not all teachers leave the University, even when others offer them more money.
The Good News
Larive, one of Frost Mason's professors, decided to stay even after receiving an offer from the University of Buffalo in New York. She approached her department chairman and decided to stay after getting more salary and other amenities.
Larive wanted more advanced instrumentation that would help her research. Buffalo was willing to buy her the device and also raise her salary — a package she thought the University wouldn't be able to match.
But she was wrong. Larive said the University borrowed money to buy her the $1 million instrument that enables Larive to study atoms and molecules even closer.
"A raise in salary was not enough," she said. "They could have given me two times salary, but the instrumentation was very outdated. I don't think the University has dealt with a problem of this magnitude before — I was very impressed with the ability of the University to get the money."
The process only works once though. If a professor comes to a dean for more money a second time, the University has to let them go. Frost Mason said
"Our policy is that if they come in two years in a row with another offer, we don't respond to the second one," she said. "We say congratulations and let them go. It's not 100 percent — but it's our guidelines."
Frost Mason said that she was sure professors received offers all the time but that not all responded. Frost Mason has received many, but she is dedicated to the University.
"I love KU." she said.
What the future holds
Both the chancellor and the provost have been active in persuading the Board of Regents and the legislature to increase professors' salaries at the University. Both said they called the Regents regularly to remind them of the problem.
"It will certainly cause great harm to the University if we don't reverse the salary decline," Shulenburger said. "We've sent out letters to get alumni support, and we've written letters to senators."
The Board of Regents has proposed a three-year plan to increase salaries by 7 percent each year so the University can catch up with its peers.
Shulenburger said he approached the Board of Regents with hopes of a larger increase so the University could start paying its faculty members.
"The plan is to get the money and do it again so we can be competitive," he said. "In response, the Regents said they would stick with the plan and ask for a 8 percent increase."
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said the salary problem couldn't change unless Kansas had a governor who
"Unless we get a lot of private money,we have to take the salary the legislature gives us. It's hard to change the distribution of resources. We need Bill Gates as an alum."
Burdett Loomis political science professor
made education a high priority.
Without help from the state, the chancellor is left trying to make ends meet with limited resources.
"Unless we get a lot of private money, we have to take the salary the legislature gives us," he said. "It's hard to change the distribution of resources. We need Bill Gates as an alum."
"It's a dilemma — the state's revenues haven't been projected to a number that would enable us to cure the problem," Hemenway said. "There are fiscal constraints. We need to continue to find solutions."
—Edited by Matt Gardner
—Designed by Jason Pearce
Average faculty salary Listed below are the average faculty salaries from 1971 to 1999 in four-year increments.
50
55
45
35
30
25
20
15
15
15
5
5
0
Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN
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