DATE: Tuesday, September 23, 1997           TAG: 9709230238

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:  143 lines

COLLEGE PROFESSORS: MAKE PAY RAISES A PRIORITY POLITICIANS SEEM TO BE MORE MOVED BY THE PLIGHT OF COST-BURDENED STUDENTS.

Most college leaders say faculty raises are the top item on their budget wish lists. But the issue hasn't merited one word in the gubernatorial campaign, obscured by talk about scholarships and tuition.

The contradiction illustrates the rough road ahead as colleges begin pushing for vital additions in the state's next two-year budget. It also brings up the thorny issue of what is most vital in maintaining Virginia's strong reputation in higher education: more money for professors or more money for students?

College administrators are reluctant to get into an either-or debate, but they say faculty raises are more crucial.

After a six-year string of minuscule or no raises for faculty, state legislators approved two years' worth of 5 to 6 percent raises, totaling about $100 million. The second annual installment will take effect in December.

That's a big help, the administrators say. But to stanch the exodus of top-grade professors and remain attractive to hot-shot applicants, state institutions say, they need even more money to offer above-average pay.

And that, they say, means the state should spend an additional $110 million for 5.7 percent annual raises in the 1998-2000 biennium. The state budget for 1998-2000 won't be crafted until the legislative session early next year, but colleges already are lobbying hard.

``I can state unequivocally that unless there is enhanced investment in this area, it's going to be at considerable cost to this institution's quality,'' said Timothy J. Sullivan, president of the College of William and Mary. At least 25 W & M faculty members said they left for other schools between 1994 and this year because of pay, Sullivan said.

Yet even though no one is arguing that professors do not deserve a raise, portents have arisen that professors might not get all they want.

A growing number of decision-makers say the most urgent need in higher education is to ease the financial burdens of students, not professors:

Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., the Democratic candidate, has promised raises for public-school teachers. But neither he nor his Republican foe, James S. Gilmore III, has mentioned faculty pay.

Both, however, have promised multimillion-dollar scholarship programs to help high-achieving or needy students.

Beyer spokeswoman Page Boinest said: ``It is a concept (raises) he is supportive of, but given what we have to spend on higher education and K-through-12, his preference is (that) the money go to scholarships. It seems that the most pressing problem in higher education is access.''

Gilmore spokesman Mark Miner had pretty much the same take: ``His first priority is to freeze tuition and make college affordable for students.''

The staff of the State Council of Higher Education this month recommended the $110 million in raises as its No. 1 budget priority for the next two years. But the leaders of the council's board, appointed by Gov. George F. Allen, say the top priority should, in fact, be maintaining the state's tuition freeze, set to expire next year. Virginia ranks among the 10 states with the highest costs.

``The cost of tuition has increased at such a disproportionate rate compared to every other consumer good,'' said Elizabeth A. McClanahan, an Abingdon lawyer who is the chairwoman of the state council.

And extending the freeze might come with a price tag to the state: McClanahan and other council members want to ask the state for $39 million to continue the freeze through the year 2000. That amount, they say, would make up for tuition increases tied to the inflation rate.

The freeze request won't necessarily squeeze out the faculty pay proposal, but it could divert money if dollars are short.

Norfolk lawyer John D. Padgett - vice chairman of the council and chairman of its budget committee - wonders whether the $110 million raise plan is ``too aggressive, considering all of the other demands on the state's resources,'' such as the freeze and technology.

The staff proposal hinges on reaching the national ``60th percentile'' on faculty salaries by the year 2000. But Padgett said he's considering whether to delay reaching that goal until 2002.

At the 60th percentile, the average salary at each Virginia college would be higher than at roughly 60 percent of similar institutions across the country. Peter A. Blake, the council's acting associate director of finance, estimates Virginia will be almost at the 50th percentile after the December raises.

``We're committed to an above-average compensation system,'' Padgett said. ``If it takes us a little longer to get there, I trust the faculty will be patient.''

Blake said, however, that most of the $110 million would be needed in any case for cost-of-living raises. ``A strong salary package,'' he added, ``resonates across the country.''

College leaders and faculty say they, too, support plans to make it easier for students to pay for an education. But ``ultimately, we're not going to teach students if we don't have the faculty,'' Old Dominion University's president, James V. Koch, said.

Granville M. Sawyer Jr., chairman of the department of entrepreneurial studies at Norfolk State University, put it another way: ``It's part of a comprehensive program to increase the quality of education you provide. Good faculty attract good students, and good students attract additional good students.''

Tom Sherman, a Virginia Tech education professor who is president of the Faculty Senate of Virginia, also worries about Padgett's idea to slow down the raises: ``The problem, of course, is it's easy to push it back, and then in two years to push it back again and push it back again. It's more of the finance gimmickry that ensures that we never get there.''

At first glance, statistics show that Virginia professors are actually making more than their peers in the South - and the nation.

In its most recent data, the Southern Regional Education Board lists Virginia's 1995-96 average salary of $52,658 as tops in the Southeast - and slightly above the national average of $51,504.

But that's not good enough, say advocates of further raises. Padgett said, ``Anybody who has followed higher education in Virginia would suggest that we do not compare ourselves to any Southeastern institution; we believe we are a national leader in higher education.''

A better way to judge salaries, Virginia officials say, is to use ``peer rankings.'' For each Virginia school, the state council has assigned 17 to 24 similar institutions across the country to compare average salaries.

Most of the state's colleges and universities fall in the bottom half of the new rankings released over the summer. Locally, William and Mary had the poorest showing: It ranked 18th of 20 schools in faculty pay, just below the State University of New York at Binghamton. ODU ranked 15th out of 25, behind such schools as Georgia State, Temple and the University of Dayton.

Aside from losing professors, educators say the pay problem has made it hard to attract new faculty members, too. ``When I look at the number and the quality of candidates that have applied for various positions, I have been extremely disappointed in both,'' said William A. Drewry, chairman of ODU's Faculty Senate.

Koch said it's particularly difficult in hot disciplines, such as physical therapy, where ODU has been unable to fill teaching positions. ``What we found was that students who were graduating from our program were earning more than the faculty who were teaching it.''

Blake, the state council's finance chief, said there are no statewide studies to track the exodus of faculty because of pay. Padgett said he's not convinced that there has been a brain drain but that's beside the point: ``I feel the issue really is: Should we fairly compensate our faculty? And I believe strongly that we should.''

Obie Daie, a 21-year-old junior at ODU, sees the need, too: ``Teachers are the foundation that holds things together. Without them, there wouldn't be a future for students.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Higher education official John D. Padgett wonders whether a $110

million raise plan is ``too aggressive.''

Graphic

The Virginian-Pilot

WILL VIRGINIA PROFESSORS GET THESE RAISES?

SOURCE: State Council of Higher Education

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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