Faculty Senate questions to President Haeger, President’s Forum, Cline Assembly Hall,
October 5, 20006
Good afternoon President Haeger. I am Blase Scarnati, the Vice President/President-Elect of the Faculty Senate. On behalf of the Senate, I want to congratulate you, the administration, faculty, and staff on the gains that we have made this year. I also want to remind you that the Faculty Senate has identified salary issues as our top priority this year—not one of our top priorities, but our top priority.
Specifically,
1). to address salary compression within ranks;
2). to resolve the unfair salary decisions for those faculty who were newly promoted this past spring;
3). to achieve summer session and winter session salary increases for faculty that are consistent with the percentage of the rise in tuition and fees for these courses; and
4). to develop and achieve commitment for a long-term salary improvement plan.
President Haeger, the Faculty Senate has several questions for you. This semester we see the largest number of students ever to enroll at NAU. You project that the increase in student enrollment should bring an additional $4.8 million to NAU. How much of this $4.8 million will be redirected back into faculty and staff salary increases?
Students were more willing to accept a raise in tuition of 9% (generating some $4.5 million) with the understanding that a major part of that increase would go toward a significant increase in faculty and staff salaries in order to recognize and reward the work of current personnel and make us more competitive for those positions in the future. How much of this 9% rise in tuition or $4.5 million will be redirected back into faculty and staff salary increases?
We are at the bottom of our peers in terms of salary, yet we live in the second-most expensive city in Arizona. Faculty Senate calculations, for example, find that while faculty need to receive an 8% salary increase for each of the next three years to bring us to the median of our peers, it will only bring us to the top of the bottom third when Flagstaff’s cost-of-living is considered.
You have just received a $40,000 annual increase in your salary [effective July 1, 2007], with the possibility of receiving a $100,000 bonus (with part of that bonus dependent upon meeting an unnamed target for the improvement of faculty and staff salaries). Has the target been identified and is it similar to the 8% salary increase that the Senate is proposing as the salary improvement plan for the next three years?
Finally President Haeger, the state and the University both have large budgetary surpluses, with the latter being judged by the significant increase in the University’s ‘reserve.’ The University is receiving unprecedented increases in tuition and enrollment funding. It would appear that there is no better time to make a commitment to a significant increase in salaries in order to become competitive once again and to reward the faculty and staff that have made sacrifices to help the University turn things around. Will you make such a commitment now?
Thank you.