ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
The University of Virginia will spend about $9 million in private funds over the next three years to increase faculty salaries.
The raises are an attempt to stem what officials say is plummeting morale and the loss of talented professors.
The university's board of visitors on Friday tentatively approved the move, which UVa President John Casteen said is unprecedented for a public institution in Virginia.
``We will be dealing with a very different university in two years'' if nothing is done, Casteen told the board.
Casteen's announcement came the same afternoon that a group of hourly employees protested a plan to delay state workers' paychecks, saying they always bear the brunt of budget cuts.
UVa faculty members have complained for most of the decade that professors' salaries in Virginia have lagged behind those in other states. In April, an internally distributed faculty report warned of low morale and said departments were beginning to lose faculty members to schools with deeper pockets.
Following sharp cuts in higher education spending that began under former Gov. Douglas Wilder in the late 1980s and continued under Gov. George Allen, lawmakers recently have started to address the problem. This year, Virginia college professors will receive raises of between 4 percent and 6 percent in the first of a four-year plan to make the state more competitive in the academic job market.
But Casteen said the state's efforts will not be enough to keep its flagship institution competitive with the best schools in the country.
In a survey last year by the Association of American Universities, UVa's average faculty salary of $63,700 ranked 27th among peer institutions, compared with 18th in 1989, before the cuts.
UVa officials say their plan will boost the university back to its previous level.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB