In an attempt to create equity among faculty salaries on campus, the Nicholls State University Faculty Senate passed a resolution in November to freeze administrative salaries and establish a moratorium on creating new administrative positions, but the administration could not support the resolution as it was written.
University President Bruce Murphy said that while he supports the idea of resolving faculty pay equity issues, he is equally concerned with employee pay issues across the board.
“I understood the need and the difficulty that the faculty had been in and the lack of pay raises in a long time, but I would not place one element of our employees [ahead of] another,” Murphy said.
Michael Jeffress, assistant professor of speech and member of the faculty senate, raised the issue in August, citing Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) data regarding discrepancies in pay among Nicholls faculty members.
He cited a 2009-2010 survey from SREB in his latest proposal draft. The SREB data reveals that Nicholls ranks lowest in overall faculty salary averages among the nine universities in the University of Louisiana System. This was also the latest year in which SREB provided figures for individual schools within its member states, according to Jeffress.
The cause gained momentum after Jeffress surveyed faculty members across campus on their perceptions regarding issues such as faculty pay and employee morale.
Of the 192 faculty members who responded to the survey, results showed that 78 percent of the faculty was dissatisfied with their salary, and about the same number believe that their salaries are unfair.
Since statewide budget cuts to higher education in 2008, the Nicholls community has undergone pay cuts and layoffs. One result is salary inversion and compression, Jeffress said. Inversion means that some faculty members who have taught at Nicholls longer do not necessarily make more money over time. Instead, their salaries are compressed, or remain the same, while newer colleagues receive higher starting salaries.
According to the survey, the majority of faculty members who participated believe that salary inversion and compression is unfair and bad for faculty morale.
Though there have been a few pay raises for faculty associated with promotions, some Nicholls administrators have had salary increases in the past few years with changes or additions to their job descriptions, Jeffress said. According to Nicholls’ operating budget, administrators have received raises while the faculty has not seen a raise in at least seven years.
Jeffress also referenced several cases of faculty members leaving Nicholls because of their salaries.
“I guess the thing that’s really the slap in the face or that doesn’t make any sense is that when [the administration] let these people go, they turn around and hire somebody to fill this person’s place, paying them what this person asked for to stay,” Jeffress said.
After passing the resolution in November, the senate adopted it in December, and then it went to the desk of former interim president Larry Howell to pass on to current University President Bruce Murphy. According to Jeffress, there was an April 9 deadline for the administration to respond to the resolution.
“Dr. Murphy did not present anything in writing, but he addressed it in his comments [at the April faculty senate meeting],” Jeffress said. “What we asked for was a formal response. I don’t know if we said it in writing, but that was kind of the assumption. We asked for the administration to submit a plan of action. [They] won’t have all the answers, but tell us what’s the plan to try to address these things, and I have not heard that plan.”
Murphy said that when he addressed the faculty senate at their last meeting in April, he told them that while he understands the difficulty the faculty has faced in the lack of pay raises, he must also address pay inequity in all employee categories.
“We have faculty, classified employees, unclassified employees and a number of other categories,” Murphy said. “I have taken on that issue as an issue across the board, and I think everyone is in the same boat. I don’t think it’s productive to favor one class of employees over another.”
Murphy also said that he could not support the resolution fully because of the moratorium on creating any new administrative positions. Part of Murphy’s plan to bring more money to the University is to create an advancement position in charge of raising money.
“If I were to agree to those terms, it would tie my hand in being able to do that. I told them I did not think that was appropriate, and that I had to try to pursue all avenues of relief, and one of those is to create that position,” Murphy said. “Even when you have bad financial times, sometimes you have to make an investment in something that’s going to pay off down the road, and we really need to do that.”
Jeffress understands the need for this new position.
“That makes sense,” Jeffress said. “I think that’s something that at least for me, the person who wrote the resolution, I can see a case made for that because it’s part of his plan to sort of work toward meeting the goals.”
Jeffress remains “cautiously optimistic” even though the next step in the cause is not yet clear.
“That’s the question that I intend to bring back to the faculty senate when we reconvene in August,” Jeffress said. “I don’t envy [Murphy’s] position. He’s come into a situation where the hornet’s nest has been stirred a little, and I think a lot of faculty are waiting to see, ‘is he going to make it better or not?’ He’s got a lot on his hands and a lot to handle.”
For Murphy, the next step is to find new ways to get money for the University.
“You can’t just go to the end of the spigot and say, ‘turn on the spigot higher’ without putting some money in the other end,” Murphy said. “It’s kind of a complex thing, and Nicholls employees, faculty, staff, administrators, everybody has been doing a fantastic job coping with this. I applaud them for it, and I am working with them in trying to resolve this. It has not gone unnoticed, and I would hate for anybody to think that I haven’t noticed this. I am doing everything I can to possibly resolve it.”