U. of Oregon's tenured professor pay raises catch the eyes of faculty at other universities in Oregon
The Oregonian
October 10, 2011
As University of Oregon tenured professors pocket an average $4,800 pay increase this year, faculty at other Oregon campuses want fat raises, too.
"Portland State University salaries are even further behind market than UO's, and the cost is tremendous in terms of recruitment, retention and morale," said Mary King, a labor economist and chief negotiator for PSU's faculty union.
The UO has a bigger money raising machine, but that doesn't make its pay raises "less frustrating," said Sherry Ettlich, professor and chair of mathematics and chief negotiator for the faculty union at Southern Oregon University. Ideally, she would like the Oregon University System to give Southern faculty equity raises, too.
The UO pay raises have complicated salary negotiations on some of the seven state campuses, giving faculty leverage to demand more money and putting pressure on administrators to deliver it.
"I would be wrong to say the faculty isn't paying attention," said Sabah Randhawa, provost and executive vice president at Oregon State University. "I'm sure the fact that UO did that put some added pressure on OSU certainly doing something for our faculty."