There are at least four ways of meeting a decline in labor demand: laying off workers, cutting nominal annual salaries, cutting hires, or reducing hours. It is difficult to lay off tenured faculty; but in this recession, universities are using two other methods of cutting payroll.
Some schools have imposed faculty hiring freezes. Others are furloughing faculty: Arizona State, for example, has imposed 15 days of furlough over the next six months. Many years ago, Michigan State met a budget crisis by postponing the implementation of a previously agreed salary increase, essentially a wage cut.
Despite tenure, senior university faculty members are not immune to recession-induced budget crises. Our only consolation is that layoffs are rare. On the other hand, in the real world a furlough usually means less effort is required of workers; not so in universities. North Carolina State is proposing a five-day furlough this spring, with each faculty member choosing the days; but teaching days cannot be taken as furlough.
I was furloughed by Michigan State many years ago — but the furlough was the week between Christmas and New Year. These are really just pay cuts by another name, and I resent the attempt to hide that fact and the attempt to deliver the same service to students at lower cost. University administrators should be more honest about this.
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re: 10% pay cut.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. The legislators should also have a 10% pay cut.
While a furlough is effectively a pay cut, it is better in a way. I have a contract, if they gave me a new contract with a lower wage, it would be much harder for me to get that money back when things got good again. If I get furloughed, true I lose the money for the time that I’m forced to take off, but as soon as they stop the furlough, I have my full salary again.
“I resent …the attempt to deliver the same service to students at lower cost.”
No wonder that college tuition continues to dramatically outpace inflation. Where is the concern for the value that your customer (the student) is receiving?
The parallels to GM circa 1970s are striking. Very high employee job security. Very little emphasis on the value provided to the customer. Us vs them relationship with management. The list goes on. I don’t know what your Toyota will be, but when it comes it is going to be painful.
And if your personal situation were really that bad, you’d do what those of us in industry would do: find a better offer someplace else. If such an offer doesn’t exist, then what are you complaining about?
You want me to call the Whaaaambulance for you?
As someone trying to break into academia this year, things are rough too. Roughly 20% of the jobs in my field have been casualties to budget cuts/freezes. Many other ABD’s from my program (arguably the best in the nation in its discipline) cannot get jobs either… so far only one of five have been able to get placed. This, compared to the past five where every single candidate was placed, usually by early January.
And to those that think that academics have it easy…I took a pay cut (or will once I get hired) to attain a PhD and work in academia over other public/private sector jobs that I could have with my master’s degree. I am fairly confident that is the case with nearly every person who goes into academia. Just because someone is only teaching two classes a semester and in the class room 6 hours or so a week, doesn’t mean they only work 6 hours a week. Prep time can be as many 5 hours per each in the classroom. That puts you at a 30 hour/week job, but teaching is not all of what tenured professors do…they are also expected to be publishing, researching, advising, and often time contributing to pubic service initiatives. This easily pushes the job to more than a typical 40 hr/week job.
Wow, that must be tough. I have a problem myself, in that I can’t quite fit all my £50 notes into my undersized wallet, but your problem is almost as bad. Also, my wife is just TOO attractive. What can I do about that?
Many of the commenters have missed your main point.
Your pay is being cut and they are wrapping it in fancy words and prevarications rather than being honest.
Are professors held to any measures of productivity (from a teaching perspective, not a research perspective)? Everything I read these days lends me to believe that our post-secondary educational system is falling behind the rest of world. If we’re not linking one of the primary purposes of a university (preparing students for a career in this increasingly competitive global marketplace) to the productivity of educators and administrators, how do we expect to keep up with other countries?