FACULTY WANT PAY SECURITY

The Faculty Senate at Southeast Missouri State University recommended Wednesday that a general pay raise be a precondition for faculty merit pay.

The action came during a 1-hour meeting at the University Center. Southeast President Kala Stroup, who attended the meeting, said she would present the proposal to the Board of Regents.

Wednesday's action was in response to adoption by the Board of Regents of a merit pay plan that excludes across-the-board pay hikes.

In June, the regents rejected a provision of a Faculty Senate-drafted merit plan that would have awarded faculty members an across-the-board 3 percent annually for each of the next three fiscal years, beginning in the 1993 fiscal year.

In addition, the plan called for eligible faculty members to receive $1,000 each in merit pay, which would be added to their base salaries.

The regents' action upset many faculty members, including members of Faculty Senate.

On Wednesday, senators approved a resolution recommending that faculty members receive a general salary increase of at least 3 percent or the increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is greater, before merit pay is awarded.

Under this measure, if money were not available for such a general increase, the merit pay of $1,000 per eligible faculty member would not be awarded, senators said.

Faculty members said the resolution doesn't lock the board into granting any general pay raises, but simply makes it an annual precondition for awarding merit pay.

The regents had said that an across-the-board pay hike for faculty should not constitute merit pay.

Faculty Senator Marlin McCutchan said, "We certainly compromised almost all of the way to their (regents') position."

The resolution was approved by senators on an 18-3 vote after senators rejected another proposed resolution that also called for a general pay hike as a precondition for merit pay. The rejected proposal did not include any reference to the consumer price index.

Faculty Senator Bruce Parrish drafted the resolution approved by the senate. "I don't see anything wrong with indicating a trigger point," he said.

"I do think we need to make our position clear ... that a general faculty salary increase comes first," said Parrish.

He said the resolution also would allow the Board of Regents to informally adopt such a merit pay provision rather than requiring public action on the part of the board.

Such a "back-door approach," he said, would allow the board to accept such a provision "without actually putting them on record."

Parrish said the resolution also makes it clear that faculty members will not work to implement a merit plan that doesn't contain general pay raise assurances.

He and other senators said the 3 percent is only a minimum level.

Faculty Senator Charles Wiles said, "It seems to me, we've made our intent clear that we expect more than 3 percent."

Faculty senators said salary increases have not kept pace with inflation over the past several years. This year, university employees, including faculty, received no general pay raises because of budget woes.

Ronald Clayton, acting chairperson of the Faculty Senate, pointed out that university officials have submitted to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education a proposed budget for the 1993 fiscal year that calls for a 13 percent pay hike for faculty.

He said the annual budget document submitted to the coordinating board amounts to a "wish list" for needed funding.