Once again, MSU’s faculty will receive an increase in their salaries in October. But the question many are raising is if this increase will be enough.
Despite lower-than-average state appropriations, for the third year in a row, the university has increased faculty salaries by 5 percent across the board. There is also a planned 4 percent increase in the allocation to colleges and departments for merit-based raises.
MSU President M. Peter McPherson has said bringing faculty salaries to a more competitive level is a priority. The administration certainly can’t be cited for a lack of trying, but more needs to be done.
We still have a problem attracting and retaining the most qualified professors to teach on campus. The professors we do have are generally here because they like to teach, or they enjoy the campus and the students - certainly not for the money.
The new freshman class is the strongest academically we’ve had in some time. The class shown MSU can compete academically on the student level. But without proper compensation, there won’t be the kind of faculty students need to make their time worthwhile.
During the 1999-2000 academic year, MSU ranked last in the Big Ten for salaries and total compensation for full professors at an average of about $85,200 a year. Northwestern University led each category by about $30,000.
For the 2002 fiscal year, Purdue University - ranked eighth in salaries last year - plans an 8.7 percent increase in faculty salaries. Pennsylvania State University, already at fourth place, intends a 3.5 percent increase in its salary pool.
Nationally, salary increases averaged only 3.5 percent, barely cresting the national inflation rate of 3.4 percent. Professors are paid 25 to 30 percent less than other similarly educated professionals in the workforce.
The competitive faculty members who have the opportunity to move onward and upward will.
When the Board of Trustees repealed the 8-year-old tuition guarantee this summer, many expected increased revenue from the extra tuition would go toward priorities such as faculty salary - and hopefully this 5 percent is only the beginning.
But there are those who feel that MSU, along with other state universities, are simply spending too much. Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus wrote a letter to the state’s 15 public university presidents urging them to cut costs rather than raise tuition rates.
But MSU has been extremely fiscally responsible under McPherson’s tenure. Any student here can see the result of the administration’s efforts to control spending firsthand.
MSU is doing the right thing in spending more money on its faculty and it needs to do more. Quality faculty is the backbone of the university’s academic society and the foundation on which its students learn. It will be a struggle with the lack of support the state provides, but it needs to be done if the quality of our education is to be retained.
University officials will have to become more creative to provide the faculty salary increases needed for MSU to be more competitive. With the state economy slowing, there isn’t enough for adequate state funding and as a result, the schools are suffering.
When the schools suffer, so do their faculty. And ultimately, when the faculty suffers, so do the students.
