Senate, provost discuss salaries

Members of the Faculty Senate discussed salaries with Provost Michael Aiken last night at the monthly Senate Executive Committee meeting. "[We discussed] financial issues, past and future, in terms of last year's budget, with the possibility of sharp reductions coming from the state, and how that worked out and the prospects for the future," said Senate Chairperson-elect David Hildebrand. In January, Gov. Robert Casey proposed cutting the University's state appropriation roughly in half. The state legislature restored this funding over the summer, but not before the University planned for the cuts. Senate Chairperson Louise Shoemaker said Aiken gave an hour-long presentation on the distribution within the University of the state funds. According to Shoemaker, Aiken said the majority of the money is earmarked for the Medical, Dental and Veterinary Schools. "$1.5 million was set aside, and a committee, composed largely of deans, made decisions on one-time expenditures that the money will be used for," Shoemaker said yesterday. "Faculty asked why that couldn't be used for raises." However, Shoemaker said, the faculty received a four-percent raise in July. Faculty in the Veterinary School received no raises. "[Aiken] said that way we would get the four-percent raise even if money weren't returned, rather than giving it to us retroactively in January if the money did come through," Shoemaker said. However, Shoemaker said the faculty were not entirely pleased with the provost's remarks. "There were expressions of real disagreement with the decision," Shoemaker said. "The $1.5 million would all have gone for raises if the whole issue had never come up." The SEC also created a task force to look into retirement problems created by a new state law. According to Hildebrand, the law will go into effect in 1993 and forbids universities from setting a mandatory retirement age for professors. "There was a pretty heated discussion on uncapping mandatory retirement," Shoemaker said. "We are asking the committee on faculty to look at all the ramifications on that and come up with suggestions on how it should be studied. It has so many angles." The SEC also accepted nominations for a seat on the Committee for Academic Freedom and Responsibility. The position was left vacant when Nursing Professor Barbara Lowery was made Interim Associate Dean for Nursing Research.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.