Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 2, 1993 TAG: 9312020036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most of them, that is.
The two classifications of employees are paid under separate systems, and staff can expect a 2 percent raise - plus possible merit pay.
Faculty raises average 3.55 percent statewide. But some faculty are finding that a state-encouraged movement toward merit-only pay means they're getting below-average raises.
At Radford University, a first-time shift to merit pay has upset some faculty, who fear that the change will reduce pensions, now based on the top three earning years.
"I've gotten some wonderful raises during the '80s," said Tom Mullis, president of the faculty. "My fear is, people at the bottom of the scale won't do as well."
And, he said, the board of visitor's approval of merit pay this week goes against faculty wishes.
"The faculty, in the spring, voted to recommend to the president that the salary increases be across the board. In fact, in my memory, we have not done a merit increase," said Mullis, who has taught at Radford for 20 years.
In the past, cost-of-living pay has been included, he said.
Radford is joining many schools, including Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia, that have always given faculty pay based on merit. James Madison University in Harrisonburg has used the merit system in the past, but figures that this year's increase, like other, smaller increases since 1990, is so low it might as well be spread around.
Other schools fall in between. The state's 23 community colleges are awarding combination merit/cost-of-living increases, said Robert Spore, classification and compensation manager for the Community Colleges of Virginia. And Virginia Military Institute also is giving across-the-board raises - but looking into merit pay in the future for 94 teaching faculty, said personnel director Geraldine Burch.
Wednesday's raises came at the behest of last year's General Assembly, working to push state faculty pay back up to levels attained before the recession.
In all, about 15,000 faculty are receiving $8.3 million from the state's general fund, with the institutions kicking in $6.9 million, said Peter Blake, finance coordinator for the State Council of Higher Education.
The split is based on a complex formula that favors colleges with a large number of in-state students, said Blake.
"In past years, [raises] have been slim or none," he said. "Administrators were reluctant to give raises based entirely on merit if there was only 2 percent to spread around. That's not enough to divvy up, based on merit."
If raises are low and some aren't pleased, the increase still means the state university system is trying to improve pay to attract and keep good faculty.
Pay at Virginia Tech, for instance, plummeted into the lower third of comparable universities - all since budget cuts started in 1990, said David DeWolf, faculty senate president.
UVa likewise has dropped into the bottom half of 25 comparable universities, according to university figures.
"We don't have hard numbers that say all our smart faculty are going out of state, but certainly there's that potential [that] we could become second-rate in our recruiting," Blake said.
The larger picture seems to have diminished any raise complaints at Tech.
"While it's better than nothing, almost everyone is concerned about the fact we're sinking from 60th to 29th percentile," DeWolf said.
After all, these are raises based on an average 3.55 percent. At JMU, an average faculty salary is $43,000. That's a weekly increase of $29.36 - before taxes.
by CNB