Quick Takes
Survey on Colleges' Staffing Cuts
Salary freezes are the most common strategy being used by colleges to limit compensation expenses in the face of the economic downturn, according to a "pulse survey" conducted by the College and University Association for Human Resources, which was released Friday. The survey -- to which 330 colleges replied -- found that most colleges have not reduced the salary increase pool for the current academic year, but anticipate smaller pools or no pools for increases going forward. On savings in staffing, the survey found that the most common approaches being used are delays in hiring, hiring freezes and limits on overtime. Most colleges reported that they were not using furloughs or layoffs.
Weber State Plans 7% Cut in Adjunct Pay
Adjunct professors, who teach almost one-third of courses at Weber State University, can expect a 7 percent cut in their pay next year, The Ogden Standard reported. University officials announced the plan, and said that adjunct pay would be rolled back to its 2004-5 rates, or about $2,700 per course. Adjuncts at the Utah university do not receive benefits. The state is considering large cuts to higher education budgets, and Weber State officials cited those reductions as requiring the pay cuts. Tenure-track and tenured faculty members will not have their pay cut under the plan, although the reduction would apply to the extra pay those professors receive when they teach extra courses.
Spending the Stimulus Money Wisely
States should spend the federal money they receive for higher education from the economic stimulus package in ways that encourage innovation and greater efficiency rather than reinforcing the patterns that got their college systems into trouble in the past, three groups argue in a report released Friday. The Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems offer recommendations for how state leaders can use the stimulus funds to "leverage change," including reallocating funds to colleges (private as well as public, two-year as well as four, for-profit as well as nonprofit) that "pursue undergraduate teaching as their first priority") and imposing greater requirements on the colleges that take funds, such as tying them to the institutions' enrollment of disadvantaged students.
Could a Fatal Lab Fire Have Been Prevented?
Safety inspectors found more than a dozen deficiencies in a University of California at Los Angeles laboratory in which a lab assistant was engulfed in flames in a December accident that resulted in burns that killed her, the Los Angeles Times reported. The article quotes one expert as saying that the death was "totally preventable." UCLA has ordered a series of lab safety improvements and is cooperating with ongoing investigations, while not commenting on the specific points outlined in the article. The safety inspection that found the deficiencies was conducted two months before the accident, and the Times reported that the requested changes were not made.
Running Out of Time in Santa Fe
The College of Santa Fe, a private college known for its arts programs and close faculty-student interaction, has for months been facing closure and hoping for a a bailout from a state university, most likely New Mexico Highlands University. Legislation to authorize such a takeover by the state is moving, but is not a done deal, leading the college to announce that it would close May 22, barring a new plan to finance its operations. Even as it announced these plans, the college was working with legislators to push the takeover legislation, and supporters of the college continue to float new ideas on how to keep it alive.
Financial Aid for Trustees' Children
Arkansas officials, responding to a report in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, are demanding that the University of Central Arkansas stop giving discounts of up to 80 percent on tuition to the children of trustees, the Associated Press reported. The practice is apparently not illegal, but also lacks any formal authorization or guidelines. The children of five current or former trustees benefited from the discounts.
Financing Inequities for Pennsylvania's 2-Year Colleges
Politicians and educators in Pennsylvania are frustrated with the system the state uses for financing community colleges -- and charging students to attend them, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. School districts had a choice in 1967 of whether to support the creation of community colleges and many funding patterns date to the choices localities made at that time -- regardless of whether they fit today's enrollment patterns and education needs, the Inquirer reported.
GOP Pressure on Millersville U. to Cancel Bill Ayers Talk
When Bill Ayers visits a local campus these days, it's become common for a local politician or two to denounce the appearance. But Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are pushing particularly hard at Millersville University, demanding that a lecture later this month be called off. The Intelligencer Journal reported that Republican legislators have issued repeated statements and called for meetings with state higher education officials about the matter. Millersville has defended the appearance by Ayers, noting that he is coming to the campus in his role as a noted education expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and that there are no plans to use tax dollars for the visit. But Republicans keep talking about the Weather Underground, of which Ayers was once a leader, and suggesting that there could be economic penalties for the university if it lets Ayers appear. One legislator told the newspaper: "I mean, this guy probably committed treason, and why Millersville would want to give him a forum is really beyond my understanding." Another said: "At the end of the day, the institution does utilize tax dollars. ... So there has to be a measure of accountability."
