Poorly paid professors?

It's not always just about the money.\nThis year, salary increases given to the administration were higher than those given to the majority of faculty, and many professors are disappointed or frustrated with the distribution of salary increases. But the current frustration with receiving lower-than-desired raises results from more than just dollar bills.\nDistinguished Professor Gail Hanson said she feels efforts to reward female professors, particularly for herself, are disappointing and lacking. She said she would like a better raise than the 1 percent she received.\n"It's not really the money, because we're talking a difference between 1 percent and 2 percent," Hanson said. "For them to give me a 1 percent raise is just insulting to me."\nThe bare minimum raise faculty can be given is 1 percent, but most receive a 2 percent raise, said Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis. Salary increases are determined by a number of factors, such as rewarding and retaining valuable staff, attracting new staff and addressing gender and minority inequities, to name a few, he said.\nDetermining raises for faculty is different for every school. In large schools like the College of Arts and Sciences, the chairs of each department make recommendations to the dean. That is then submitted to the administration. In smaller schools, the increases are set directly by the dean, Gros Louis said. \nSusan Dillman, director of media relations, said the administration would like to give everyone a salary they would be happy with, but IU receives very little support from state funds.\n"It's important to note in general that public universities and colleges in the state of Indiana receive comparatively little support compared to their counterparts throughout the Big Ten," Dillman said. "So, IU starts out with some challenges."\nJudy Palmer, chief financial officer, said it is difficult to allocate available funding and still meet all the goals IU sets, including salary distribution.\n"Clearly, the trustees and administration have indicated salary is a high priority," she said. "At IU, we have needs in terms of faculty salaries, needs in terms of hiring additional faculty and a number of other needs that all have to be considered when building a budget and allocating sources. We must take into account benefits, such as health care and retirement programs, that are very important here."\nProfessor James Sherman, president of the Bloomington Faculty Council, said one reason for an unequal distribution of salary increases is not only because of the limited funds, but also the method of allocating these funds.\n"Trustees need to put a chunk of money aside to meet equity raises and outside offers," Sherman said. "Taking all the money out of one pot leads to competent faculty getting 1 to 2 percent raises. It's a complicated issue. There's only one chunk of money for salaries, and all of the raises must come from the same source."\nGros Louis sets the salaries of campus deans and vice chancellors. He said he tries to set their average increases after the faculty increases, but as Sherman mentioned, outside offers can infringe upon those efforts.\n"Outside offers are quite frequent, but it's a good thing because we want our faculty well enough known that other schools want them," Gros Louis said. "School deans respond in a way that will keep the person there."\nHanson said she is aware of these complications, but is nonetheless disappointed with her salary increase. But she added her work ethic is unwavering -- she said she is a well-respected physicist, having received the Guggenheim Fellowship and other awards. She said she is also concerned about other researchers leaving and federal grant money leaving with them, which will lead to a decrease in the quality of education. \nShe is one of very few women in the physics department at IU and said she has developed her own theories as to why her effort is not being compensated by a more fair salary increase. \n"In my field, which is predominately male, I think there could be some resentment," she said. "For one, I'm one of the best and I'm female, so getting a salary higher than the male faculty could lead to (this resentment)."\nDillman said the administration has taken measures to improve any inequalities, like the one Hanson has encountered.\n"Several years ago, President Brand asked for a faculty-based review," she said. "That study revealed that there were racial minorities and females not being paid at similar rates. Attempts have been made to rectify that situation."\nDistinguished professor Vic Viola said his biggest concern is losing younger professors. He said young faculty members are the future of the University.\nAlthough he has no complaints about his 1.7 percent raise, Viola said the current system for determining raises must change soon because it is not only hurting the future state of the University, but the present state.\n"We can look at the president and vice president, who averaged about a $19,000 increase this year," he said. "We're already at the bottom of the Big Ten. To be giving (the administration) increases like that is unconscionable. I'd feel rather guilty taking raises like that, while most of faculty get 2 percent." \nSherman said in addition to IU being at the bottom of the Big Ten, low salary increases lead faculty to feel like they are not important.\n"I've listened to a lot of Herman Wells' speeches," Sherman said. "He always said the center (of the University) was the students and faculty, not the administration. He meant it too. So when you see things like this, you say, 'Where are we really?'"\nGros Louis said that although he understands how faculty are led to believe this, the administration still values the same ideals as Wells did.\n"There is no question about it," Gros Louis said. "The heart of the University and its quality is always the faculty"