President
Clif Smart recently, while discussing an across the board 2 percent raise,
stated that raising salaries “is a priority for our Board and for me and my
administration”. President Smart is, of course, not the first
MSU President to make similar statements.
Clearly, continued 2 percent raises will simply perpetuate the problem. That leads to the question in the title of
this blog: How much are you underpaid?
MSU
identifies 11 benchmark institutions in its current long-range plan. The following data
compares MSU faculty by rank to these benchmark institutions. As noted on the President’s web page: “This
set of institutions is similar to Missouri State University-Springfield in many
respects (e.g., student headcount, level and span of degree programs), but
possesses characteristics and accomplishes outcomes that we aspire to achieve.” How much are you
underpaid over the past 14 years relative to pay at these benchmark
institutions?
Here
is the data for Full Professors. First, let’s look at MSU versus three
universities that are geographically close to us.
Notice that
MSU professor salaries are essentially the same in the 98-99 academic year
compared to the benchmark universities, especially for Wichita State and
Illinois State. However, the disparity
between MSU and these benchmark institutions has grown dramatically over time including during the last two years.. The next graph shows MSU Professor Salaries
vs. the average salary at all 11 benchmark institutions and shows a similar
relationship.
In
the last year listed AY 11-12, the difference in salaries is $14,220. Don’t forget, as the University has been
quick to tell us over the years, that the value of our benefits must be
included to fully calculate faculty total compensation:
Notice
that we see the same pattern here as with salaries. The value of benefits at MSU is similar to
our benchmark institutions in AY 98-99, with an ever increasing disparity over
time. In the last AY, which for benefits
is AY 10-11, the difference in benefits equals $4,688.
How
much in $$ have YOU lost?
In current dollars, the lost salary from an
MSU full professor not being paid her/his worth (i.e., the average
for MSU benchmark universities) over the last 14 years equals:
$172,493 (salary) + $41,717 (benefits) =
$214,210
Data
for each of the remaining ranks at MSU are included below to show faculty just
how far the board and President Smart have to go to fulfill their pledge. Recall that the value of benefits is the same
for all employees.
Associate
Professors
In
the last year listed AY 11-12, the difference in salaries is $7,916.
In current dollars, the lost salary from an
MSU associate professor not being paid her/his worth (i.e., the average
for MSU benchmark universities) over the last 14 years equals: $114,
893 (salary) + $41,717 (benefits) = $156,610
Assistant
Professors
In
the last year listed AY 11-12, the difference in salaries is $4,334.
In current dollars, the lost
salary from an MSU associate professor not being paid her/his worth
(i.e., the average for MSU benchmark universities) over the last 14
years equals: $66, 725 (salary) + $41,717 (benefits) =
$108, 442
Instructors
Note:
The above data combines the data for Instructors and Lecturers for MSU in the
years that MSU had both.
In
the last year listed AY 11-12, the difference in salaries is $7,061.
In
current dollars, the lost salary from an MSU Instructor not being paid
her/his worth (i.e., the average for MSU benchmark universities) over
the last 14 years equals:
$89,817
(salary) + $41,717 (benefits) = $131,534
What
YOU can do to change being UNDERPAID?
Join MSU Faculty Association and fight
to correct these inequities.
The
data suggests that there are two main causes of the low faculty salaries at
MSU. First, over this time period the
MSU administration has chosen to invest available budget dollars into other,
non-academic, areas of the university including administration and professional
(non-academic) staff. In fact, while the
numbers of ranked faculty have remained constant at MSU since 1993, even as
student enrollment has increased, the number of administrators has increased by
31 percent and the numbers of non-academic professional staff have increased by
273 percent. As a percentage of total
FTE employees on campus faculty, both ranked and unranked, have fallen from
45.6% of all FTE in 1993 to 35.9 percent in 2010. See the Faculty Senate staffing report in
2010 for a full picture of what has happened in these areas over time.
Second,
Missouri funding of higher education has decreased substantially in the recent
past while at the same time the state has placed a soft cap on tuition
increases for public universities and colleges.
How would YOU joining
the MSU Faculty Association help with these problems?
The
MSU Faculty Association has a two-pronged strategy for dealing with the salary
inequities borne by all faculty members at MSU.
The immediate goal of the MSU Faculty Association is to achieve
collective bargaining status. That is, the
MSU Faculty Association desires to represent all full time faculty in
bargaining an equitable, legally enforceable contract over the terms and
working conditions of faculty employment at MSU. In previous posts on this blog, we have
pointed out the many advantages of such collective bargaining. Those benefits include both increases in
salaries and, especially relevant, improvements in the allocation of resources
on campus. Speaking with a collective
voice will increase the power that faculty collectively have on a wide range of
issues on campus.
Notice
that achieving collective bargaining on campus is a several step process that
has been ongoing for the past 2 years.
We have several steps to go before we can achieve the goal. What we need from you is more faculty who are
willing to help in our efforts to get a collective bargaining contract. Hence, joining MSU Faculty Association is
just the first step. We also need you to
become active, primarily by talking to your colleagues. Formally, we need to have a card campaign
where we ask faculty to sign a card saying anonymously
that they desire the MSU Faculty Association to represent them in
collective bargaining. A successful card
campaign that collects enough signatures validated by a neutral third party
like the League of Women Voters will
then trigger an election. A simple
majority of full time faculty on campus must then vote in the election for the
MSU Faculty Association to represent them to then achieve the goal of
collective bargaining.
The
longer term strategy, still being developed, once collective bargaining is
attained is to also use our collective voice externally within the state. The obvious method is via lobbying the
legislature and governor of the state, with help from the Missouri NEA and
their already well developed lobbying efforts.
However, we can also partner with other entities outside of MSU
including other collective faculty voices at other Missouri public universities
and colleges. We have an important
message to send to our fellow citizens in the state – investments in higher
education are crucial to Missouri’s economic health.
We encourage all faculty
to join with us in achieving these goals.
