University Daily Kansan
Campus
Wednesday, August 20, 1986
Low salaries send some facultv elsewhere
By Evan Walter
Staff writer
Professors at the University of Kansas may teach with a firm commitment to excellence, but many think this is not reflected in their paychecks.
Faculty salaries at KU are low in comparison with those at peer institutions. This concerns members of the KU administration.
"This is a serious issue because our faculty have been underfunded for some years," said Robert Cobb, executive vice chancellor.
The Board of Regents has identified a group of universities as peer institutions with KU: the universities of Iowa in Iowa City; North Carolina in Chapel Hill; Oklahoma in Norman; Colorado in Boulder; and Oregon in Eugene. All of these
schools, the Formula Funding peer group, are similar in size and curriculum and are in states with similar per capita incomes.
A listing was compiled of salary and compensation averages at KU and its peer group institutions from July 1, 1985, to June 30, 1986.
On the salary-comparison averages, KU ranked third out of the six institutions in the Formula Funding peer group. The chart listed the salaries of assistant, associate and full professors from each of the peer schools.
In addition, the organizers of the data, who are from the office of institutional research and planning at KU and other schools, compared the average salary for each classification of professor at KU with similar classifications at the peer schools.
The average salary for full professors at KU was $1,917 less than the weighted total average for all five schools plus KU. When excluding KU, the average salary was $2,372 less.
The average salary for associate professors at KU was $2,465 less than the weighted total average and $3,085 less when excluding KU.
The average salary for assistant professors at KU was $871 less than the weighted total average and $997 less when excluding KU.
"There may be some faculty who are pleased," said Melvin Dubnick, associate professor of public administration. "but I haven't run into them.
"We're not as well-paid as we should be. It is possible to do better at other institutions."
The Kansas Legislature has implemented raises of 2.5 percent for the University, but the faculty still are not pleased, Dubnick said. The only thing that can be done is to go before the Legislature.
"I think it is safe to say that most members of the faculty believe it is too low," said Robert Lineberry, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "They are significantly lower than our peer institutions."
Chancellor Gene A. Budig and the Regents have been working with the Legislature on improving pay for faculty and staff at the University, Lineberry said.
Education and
The Regents goal is 8 percent increases for fiscal 1988, but the final decision belongs to the Legislature.
Budig instructed the deans of the schools and the college to implement a 3-percent salary increase.
Cobb said, "It is my personal opinion that salaries won't improve significantly until the economic conditions of the state improve. The economy of the state has been in doldrums for some time."
One major impetus for the salary increase this year has been that the Legislature and the general public are aware of the relationship between higher education and the economy, Cobb said. Other states that have had economic recovery have invested into higher education before the recovery.
Lineberry said, "The difficulty with faculty salaries predates recent economic problems of Kansas."
The salary problem also has led to a problem with teachers leaving for other institutions.
"There is not a year that goes by that we do not lose to other institutions," Lineberry said.
Although there hasn't been an unusually high number of people leaving the University, Cobb said, KU has lost some important people.
"I don't think the number of people who leave has increased dramatically," he said. "We've had some very significant losses in the past year or two."
Filling vacant spots, which are usually taken by assistant professors, hasn't been a major problem for the University, Lineberry said. KU's wages for assistant professors are competitively based on market considerations.
The salary problem has mainly hit the associate and full professors, he said.
Orientation a success
At spring and summer orientation this year, 4,367 new students enrolled for the fall semester, which is 591 more than last year's orientation.
In addition, 2,722 parents came to the program, which is 1,009 more than last year.
The figures were released in July by Lovely Ulmer, KU director of orientation.
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