Happy with 85% of CUPA?
At the Friday, February 7, 2007 meeting concerning guaranteed transfer courses at the Department of Higher Education, the new Director, David Skaggs, welcomed the assembled professors and said two great things: that the Department of Higher Education is there to be an advocate for higher education and that Colorado must have higher goals for higher education than to raise ourselves to the level of slightly below average.
We in the Metropolitan State Faculty Federation completely agree that we must move well beyond “slightly below average.” A great place to start is faculty salary. The Board of Trustees has had the goal of moving our average salary up to 85% of the average salaries at our comparator institutions. The very fact that achieving a salary of 15% below average would represent a raise shocks us—though it does not surprise us. If faculty salaries would be considered high enough at 15% below CUPA salaries then we are aiming to remain slightly below average in salaries. While the Board of Trustees demands faculty performance levels at well above average, meriting a “grade” of A or B, they feel they have performed by promising us a 15% below average salary, in other words, a D grade salary.
Factor in so-called “pay-for-performance” to increase faculty “productivity” by some yet to be defined standard and we have working conditions that are closer to indentured servitude than professional pre-eminence. Perhaps this is simply another mechanism that will keep us divided, with each professor competing against every other for a temporary bonus, hardly optimal conditions for achieving academic excellence.
MSFF Fiscal Analysis Committee
We will no doubt be told that 85% of CUPA is all MSCD can afford, but we need to examine such claims for ourselves. Many of us are motivated by values and ideals beyond the merely pecuniary as we pursue our avocation at Metro, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t entitled to make a living, provide for our families, and secure a decent retirement. Working at Metro is not a charitable activity. Are you a faculty member whose talents lean toward an understanding of budgets and accounting, or who are simply interested in finding out about the reality of Metro’s fiscal health so that we can argue for a decent pay scale based on fiscal fact? If so, contact us at msff6321@aol.com and volunteer to work on the MSFF Fiscal Analysis Committee.
