FA, CMU fact-finding concludes with standstill on salary issue

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Fact-finder Barry Goldman has a six-inch high pile of evidence and hundreds of transcript pages to go through since hearings with Central Michigan University and the Faculty Association ended Wednesday.

He expects to form his recommendations in 30 days at the earliest after the final hearing finished about 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Bovee University Center’s Lake Huron room.

The main issue of the day was salary, as CMU proposes an FA salary pay freeze this academic year while the FA proposes a pay freeze for this semester and a one-percent increase plus $1,000 for the next semester.

History Associate Professor Jennifer Green said fair faculty salaries are important to recruit and retain faculty to CMU, and all salary figures are below the MAC average.

CMU attorney Robert Vercruysse said the average CMU professor salary is $79,754, approximately $7,000 over the MAC average.

“What you found is that our salary ranks are comparable to the lower third level,” Vercruysse said.

Associate Vice President of Financial Services Barrie Wilkes said unrestricted net assets are an important fund for maintaining the university.

Wilkes said Michigan Education Association Economist Ruth Beier’s figures presented during Tuesday’s session were incorrect.

“If someone gets a three-percent raise, that three-percent cost is there every year,” Wilkes said. “You need to build a budget to cover all the costs.”

Wilkes said he and other bargaining groups took freezes last year, and believes it is fair for the FA to take one too.

Robert Martin, associate vice provost of Faculty and Personnel Services, also spoke about the salary package.

“We asked if the FA had given consideration to the FA salary package given what was happening today in the Michigan economy,” Martin said. “Their response was fairly characterized by the fact that they had not changed their stance on their salary position.”

Ray Christie, vice provost of Academic Administration, said the universities CMU’s pay is comparable to Kent State University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Miami University, Western Michigan University, Bowling Green University, Illinois State University, Eastern Michigan University, James Madison University and Ball State University.

Other comparable universities took pay freezes in the past, and Christie said it would help CMU professors in the long run if they would also agree to it.

Christie said CMU’s salaries fall in the middle of the list.

“We fall pretty much in the center in high-research institutions,” Christie said. “We believe the university table would maintain our current position that we see. I believe it’s fair, equitable, and will help us maintain our current level in the market.”

FA President Laura Frey said during the hearings, the administration acknowledged they had resources available to meet the FA’s wage proposals.

“What I heard is the administration has the resources to pay the fair, equitable table position presented by the FA, they just do not want to,” Frey said in a press release. “I am more alarmed than ever about the how little this administration appears to care about the quality programming that students should be getting with their tuition
increase.”