Mid-Level Administrators’ Salaries Up 3.9%

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Inside Higher Ed: Mid-Level Administrators’ Salaries Up 3.9%

The median salary for mid-level administrators increased 3.9 percent in 2007-8, according to a report released today by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

The increase is up from last year’s 3.8 percent gain, and a 3.3 percent hike the year before that.

Increases this year were larger in public higher education than in private higher education (4.0 percent to 3.7 percent). The median increases were largest for jobs in business and administrative affairs, human resources, athletics and external affairs. The smallest median increases were in academic affairs and student affairs.

(CUPA-HR released an analysis of salary trends for senior administrators, whose median salaries increased by 4.0 percent, last month.)

Among positions in the study, the highest salary was for staff physician ($122,648), followed by veterinarian, pharmacist and labor unit supervisor. The lowest salary was for security guard ($26,355), followed by residence hall manager, child care center teacher and entry level computer operator.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

Not So Free Speech in Campus Governance

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Inside Higher Ed: Not So Free Speech in Campus Governance

When the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago limited the First Amendment protections available to public employees, faculty groups thought that they had dodged a bullet. While the decision didn’t go the way professors hoped, it specifically indicated that additional issues might limit its application in cases involving public college professors.

Now, however, a federal court has applied just the principle that faculty groups thought shouldn’t be applied in higher education — that bosses can punish employees for speech deemed inappropriate — to a case involving a university. As a result, the American Association of University Professors and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression are asking a federal appeals court to affirm that the Supreme Court decision does not apply to public higher education. The two groups warn that failure to reverse the lower court’s decision could make it impossible for professors to freely debate hiring choices or campus policies.

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Posted in Free speech

U.S. Proposes New Rules on Student Privacy

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Inside Higher Ed: U.S. Proposes New Rules on Student Privacy

The federal law designed to protect the privacy of students’ educational records has been under scrutiny and stress from a variety of angles in recent years, most recently from those concerned (in the wake of last year’s shootings at Virginia Tech) about whether the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act gives college officials sufficient latitude to report their fears about mentally ill students.

Responding to the issues raised by Virginia Tech, by laws like the Patriot Act, and by several recent court decisions, the U.S. Education Department today proposed new regulations to govern the educational privacy law known as FERPA, which restricts disclosures by educational institutions from a student’s records.

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Posted in Students

Michigan: Affirmative action ban upheld

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Detroit News: Judge dismisses suit challenging Proposal 2

DETROIT — A federal Judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit challenging Proposal 2, a state law that bans preferential treatment based on race or gender in government hiring and university admissions.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson’s ruling upholds the constitutionality of the measure Michigan voters approved in 2006.

In dismissing the suit, Lawson said the plaintiffs failed to prove that the amendment was created to target minorities.

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Posted in Equity

Private Colleges Proliferating, Worldwide

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Inside Higher Ed: Private Colleges Proliferating, Worldwide

With the demand for higher education ever-growing and unmet internationally, the private sector continues to grow. A paper to be presented this week at the Comparative and International Education Society conference in New York explores global patterns in the growth of private higher education – how it increases access and who for, how private institutions expand, and what the worries are.

“Fewer and fewer countries disallow private higher education, whereas many did several decades back,” writes Daniel C. Levy, a professor and director of the Program for Research on Private Higher Education at the State University of New York at Albany. “Furthermore, while private growth has often exploded unexpectedly and on the fringes of legislation, it has also emerged where laws have been liberalized” – in various Indian states and Chinese provinces, for instance. Whereas private education earlier developed in Latin America outside of a “state directive,” it’s increasingly common, Levy writes, for governments in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East “to articulate a rationale for private access.” In the context of the report and international higher education, “private” can mean nonprofit, for-profit or somewhere in between.

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Posted in Corporate University

Florida: FAMU faculty must pay university $67,558

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Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU faculty must pay university $67,558

A payroll glitch from Jan. 18 continues to haunt Florida A&M University administrators and faculty, according to chief financial officer Teresa Hardee.
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Hardee said 66 certified letters were mailed to FAMU employees who were told they needed to pay the university as little as $3.25 or as much as $4,543 in paycheck overpayments.

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Posted in Faculty

Southern Illinois chancellor put on leave after ‘serious concerns’

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Chicago Tribune: Southern Illinois chancellor put on leave after ‘serious concerns’

The chancellor of Southern Illinois University’s flagship campus in Carbondale was put on paid leave Monday following concerns about his job performance, President Glenn Poshard said in a statement.

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Posted in Administration

Tenure, the Movie

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Inside Higher Ed: Tenure, the Movie

Higher education has provided plenty of plots for film, with student oriented movies the most likely to pack in audiences. Campus hijinks have always been popular (think “Animal House“). Getting into college featured prominently in “Risky Business” and “Orange County.” Faculty stories also get told of course, with many an academic novel having been dramatized. But tales of infidelity, failure, and visions of political correctness tend to dominate — such as the stories in the films “Wonder Boys,” “We Don’t Live Here Anymore” or “The Human Stain.”

But what about tenure? It’s about to have its 15 minutes of Hollywood fame. Blowtorch Entertainment will next month begin filming on “Tenure,” which is about a college professor coming up for tenure (Luke Wilson) and facing off against a female rival who recently arrived at (fictional) Grey College. (The part of the institution will be played by Bryn Mawr College, where the movie will be shot.) David Koechner will play the professorial sidekick to the Wilson character, and the production company is planning kickoff events next year to promote the film in college towns.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

EEOC Rejects Racial Bias Claim Against MIT

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Inside Higher Ed: EEOC Rejects Racial Bias Claim Against MIT

James L. Sherley attracted nationwide attention last year with a hunger strike to protest his tenure denial by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sherley, who is black, accused MIT of racial discrimination — a charge the institute denied. While Sherley ended his hunger strike after 12 days, he continued to maintain that he was the victim of bias and filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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Posted in Equity, Tenure & Promotion

Florida: Legislators question university donations to system chancellor

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Palm Beach Post: Legislators question university donations to system chancellor
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Florida’s 11 university foundations have chipped in tens of thousands of dollars over the past two years to help boost the annual salary of the state university system’s chancellor from $231,750 to $361,725.

The donations, which are called voluntary but are based on the number of students at each university, also have paid for an additional $69,025 in annual benefits for Chancellor Mark Rosenberg. The benefits include a car allowance, travel and a retirement allotment.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

UK: Women scientists face discrimination, says study

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The Guardian: Women scientists face discrimination, says study

Women continue to struggle to reach the top echelons of academia due to discrimination, according to new research presented at the Royal Economic Society annual conference this week.

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Posted in Equity

Part time staff at Wilfred Laurier begin strike

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THE CANADIAN PRESS: Part time staff at Wilfred Laurier begin strike

BRANTFORD, Ont. – More than 350 part-time professors at Wilfrid Laurier University campuses in Brantford and Waterloo are on strike.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Antioch Protest at 1 Dupont

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Inside Higher Ed: Antioch Protest at 1 Dupont

Some Antioch College alumni, among those pushing for independence for the college from Antioch University, turned up Wednesday at One Dupont Circle — the Washington home of many higher education associations — to seek more support. They passed out leaflets urging people to write to Antioch’s board, which was meeting Wednesday but came to no conclusions about the fate of the college. Larry Rubin, one of those passing out information, said “the issue facing Antioch College is the same as what faces higher education across the country. Should the goal be education or simply to maximize funding for an institution? We’re saying higher education can weigh in and support the transfer to a corporation of alumni who will make sure the right kind of education will continue.”

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Posted in Protests

Florida: A State Senator’s Sweet Deal

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Inside Higher Ed: A State Senator’s Sweet Deal

Evelyn J. Lynn has spent much of her professional career as an educator, putting in 30 years as a teacher and administrator in the schools of Florida’s Volusia County and earning a doctorate in instructional leadership and administration from the University of Florida. So it’s no stunner that when Florida State University sought someone to help get a new outreach center for its Florida Center for Reading Research on Lynn’s home turf of Daytona Beach, they hired her for the nearly $120,000 position, which she began in September.

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Posted in Ethics

Zimbabwe: Teachers end strike

Posted on March 22, 2008 by | Comments Off on Zimbabwe: Teachers end strike

Zimbabwe Metro: Teachers end strike

Teachers in inflation-battered Zimbabwe have called off a three-week strike following President Robert Mugabe’s promise to give them “very good” salaries, state media said on Friday.

The main Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) Secretary General Richard Gundani told the official Herald newspaper the union had decided to call off the strike “with immediate effect.”

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

UK: Teacher unions take aim at spiralling workload

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The Guardian; Teacher unions take aim at spiralling workload

Teachers’ increasing workload and its impact on their work-life balance, poor pupil behaviour in the classroom and continuing opposition to the government’s school academies programmes are all high on the agendas of the three teacher unions, which are due to hold their annual conferences over the next two weeks.

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Posted in Working conditions

Lithuanian teachers plan rallies Friday as strike escalates

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International Herald Tribune: Lithuanian teachers plan rallies Friday as strike escalates

VILNIUS, Lithuania: Lithuania’s teacher unions plan to escalate their pay dispute with the government by holding protest rallies in the country’s largest cities on Friday.

Dozens of schools throughout Lithuania have been shut down for several days after teachers walked off the job in an ongoing salary dispute. Teachers are demanding an immediate 50 percent pay raise, but the government has said it cannot afford that.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Zimbabwe teachers end strike after 754 percent pay hike

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AFP: Zimbabwe teachers end strike after 754 percent pay hike

Mar 14, 2008

HARARE (AFP) — Thousands of teachers in Zimbabwe’s state schools have ended a three-week strike after being awarded a 754 percent salary increase by the government, their union said on Friday.

“We urge teachers to return to work,” said Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, calling the salary increase a victory for teachers and the nation.

Majongwe said the government agreed to hike the monthly teachers’ salary to 3.4 billion Zimbabwe dollars (115,300 US dollars at the official rate, but just 115 US dollars at the widely-used black market rate), up from 369 million Zimbabwe dollars.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

Zimbabwe: Strike Paralyses Schools Ahead of Election

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IWPR: Strike Paralyses Schools Ahead of Election

For low-paid teachers, being left out while large salary awards were offered to the security services were the last straw.

By Hativagone Mushonga in Harare Harare (AR No. 160, 14-Mar-08)
As election day draws near, Zimbabwe is experiencing the most widespread strike by civil servants and teachers since independence in 1980, with almost all state-sector teaching staff staying at home despite intimidation by security agents and government officials.

No doubt sensing the danger of going into an election with his civil service on strike, President Robert Mugabe this week awarded hefty salary increases for civil servants, including teachers, in what can only be seen as a vote-buying move.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Ontario: Laurier profs could strike

Posted on March 22, 2008 by | Comments Off on Ontario: Laurier profs could strike

Bradford Expositor: Laurier profs could strike

Wilfrid Laurier University contract academic staff continued casting ballots Thursday in a vote that could lead to a strike affecting students at the school’s Brantford and Waterloo campuses.

The voting, which started on Tuesday and will wrap up today, is taking place as a negotiating team continues working toward a new agreement between contract academic staff and the university.

Meetings with a mediator were scheduled for this week.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes