Towson University faculty members express frustrations, concerns related to three-year old salary freeze
The Towerlight
October 17, 2011
A state-imposed salary freeze, now in its third year, has left some University faculty and staff with lowered spirits and an abundance of frustration.
“Salary freezes that last over a period of three to six years, combined with furloughs or temporary pay cuts, are devastating to faculty morale,” tenured English professor Peter Baker said. “We have had a hard time retaining newly-hired faculty. And faculty of longer standing with obligations such as mortgages, children in college or in daycare, feel the pinch as well.”
Alex Storrs, a tenured associate professor in the department of physics, astronomy and geosciences, said one of the main predicaments with the freeze is salary inversion – newly-hired faculty and staff whose starting salary is higher than that of faculty and staff who’ve been at the University longer.
“Obviously it’s unfair and not a huge problem, but it is a bit of a morale problem,” Storrs said. “Salary inversion is just an extension of salary compression that we’ve been complaining about for years.”
Storrs said he is concerned for some of his colleagues who’ve been teaching at Towson University 15 to 20 years.
