|
|||||
 | |||||
|
Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/26/07 |
|
|
In
the News Archive - Year:
March 25, 2007 Guest column: By Bruce Shepard
The issue — salaries of UW System faculty and staff — has posed a daunting challenge on UW campuses throughout the state. In my opinion, the quality of what has long been considered a world-class university system is at risk.
In an editorial, the Press-Gazette disagreed with a UW System decision to no longer post online the salaries of specific university employees. System officials explained that the information was removed from the Internet because other colleges and universities have used it to recruit talented faculty away from UW campuses. That information remains accessible to the public in many other forms.
My own view (a view that I know many faculty members share) is that the salary information likely should be online: It is public information, and the public needs to know just how embarrassingly low the salaries are. I applaud the Press-Gazette for posting the entire list on its Web site.
However, I cannot fault our academic officers who objected to such unusually easy access to faculty salaries. By requesting the removal of the data from the Internet, they were trying to use whatever lever they could to protect their campuses.
My sincere wish is that this dispute over online access to salary information does not overshadow a much more pressing issue: the alarmingly low salaries of UW faculty.
The Legislative Audit Bureau last week released a report showing that UW faculty salaries come up short when compared with salaries at our high-quality technical colleges. Those of us who deal with this issue daily did not need another audit to understand that our salaries are falling further behind competing institutions. Led by our Regents, we have been doing the studies and sharing the discouraging results year after year.
The stark fact of life at UW-Green Bay and other state campuses is that low pay is making it increasingly difficult to attract and keep faculty. Friends leading universities in other states tell me it's common knowledge that if you're looking to pick off talented faculty, look no further than UW campuses.
UW-Green Bay's tenure-track assistant professors on average make just over $47,000 a year. These up-and-coming faculty members are the most likely targets of our competitors.
Last year, after several years of failed searches, we finally got two beginning assistant professors in one of our largest programs. Halfway through their first year, these brand-spanking new faculty members left for significantly higher pay at institutions that are not household names. With other vacancies in the same program, we ended up with 30 percent of our "talent" positions needing to be filled.
Imagine for a moment what it would be like if our community's most famous talent-based business, the Green Bay Packers, turned over nearly a third of its roster each year. Then imagine that the Packers could offer to pay prospects only 70 percent of what other NFL teams were offering. It wouldn't be long before the Packers would compete for the playoffs only in our dreams.
We also recruit nationally for the best talent available to meet the growing needs of our region. But we get no first-round draft picks, and our competitors don't share our "salary cap."
At UW-Green Bay, we work day in and day out to connect learning to the life of our rapidly growing, evolving region. We need good people to help us help this region reach its vast potential.
The citizens of Wisconsin face a clear choice. We can help create a successful future for our state and region by investing in the people who will make our system of higher education the envy of the nation. Or we can stand by and watch as talented teachers and scholars leave the state — and our children follow.
I know which choice I prefer.
| |
