Amid budget cuts, UCLA has remained competitive in its faculty
salaries, but the school fears private universities may raid
UCLA’s most distinguished professors at a time when the
university is coming up short on annual salary increases.
The concern comes from a shortage in the resources UCLA can
offer its faculty compared to the deeper pockets of private
universities.
“(Chancellor) Carnesale observed that mitigating this
resource gap is the greatest challenge UCLA will face in coming
years,” stated a report written earlier this month by the
UCLA Competitiveness Task Force.
The problem is exacerbated by shortfalls in the state economy,
with effects rippling down to the public school system.
“The UC is very concerned about sufficient state funding
for both faculty and staff salaries. All the good progress on
faculty salaries that we made in the late 1990s has been undone by
the current state budget crisis, and UC faculty salaries now lag
(behind its comparison universities) by about 9 percent,”
said Paul Schwartz, a UC Office of the President spokesperson.
California is currently facing a deficit estimated to be as
large as $35 billion. This has resulted in substantial cuts to
public school funding.
The UC system uses a reference system called the Comparison
Eight to gauge how its faculty salaries match up to the salaries
offered by other premium universities.
The UC has been successful in offering higher average faculty
salaries than the four comparison public schools, but is outdone by
the four private schools, according to a report by the American
Association of University Professors.
And according to Vice Chancellor of Finance Steve Olsen, it is
these private institutions that end up being UCLA’s most
dangerous threat in the battle to retain senior faculty.
Duncan Lindsey, chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, noted that in
the past, private institutions have persuaded senior faculty to
leave UCLA by offering them larger salaries and more benefits.
“Private universities were coming in and raiding the best
faculty,” he said.
Lindsey recalled working on the graduate council several years
ago. He had helped review a UCLA academic department that had its
top faculty stripped by private schools ““ Stanford, Duke and
Northwestern.
Faculty retention becomes more difficult during times of
economic troubles because of UCLA’s disadvantage in the
salaries it can offer its faculty relative to those being offered
by private schools like Stanford ““ a member of the Comparison
Eight.
Stanford and USC do not have to worry about decreases in state
funding because their faculty salaries are paid by student
tuition.
Acknowledging the importance of salaries for retaining top
faculty, Schwartz said that in light of budget problems,
“recruitment and retention efforts will become that much
harder.”
A study conducted by the AAUP found the term of employment was
longer for faculty at private institutions. They attributed this to
the higher salaries received at private schools.
Although private universities can offer higher salaries, junior
faculty are likely to stay at UCLA for more than just Los
Angeles’ weather and nightlife.
“While the academic job market is competitive, it is also
a huge market with a lot of stagnancy,” said UCLA political
science lecturer Robert Hennig.
Due to the enormous pool of capable junior level professors, the
majority of faculty do not have a lot of options or offers from
other academic institutions.
But there is a small percentage of the faculty population that
has the distinction and accomplishments to put themselves out on
the market for the highest bidder.
These professors have more options because of their preeminence
and overt value to a university’s prestige. It is this group
of the faculty population that UCLA is concerned with retaining,
Hennig said.
“If the UC wants to compare itself to Stanford and Penn
and Harvard and Yale, it has to be a competitive institution in
terms of salaries and amenities it provides,” he added.
UCLA and its fellow UC schools face the question of when the
budget problems will end. Because of finance problems, the state
has been unable to fulfill its agreement to provide a 4 percent
annual increase to UC funding each of the last two years.
“Relief does not appear to be on the immediate
horizon,” Schwartz said.
Olsen said UCLA will continue to hire qualified faculty.
Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel Donna Vredevoe added that
UCLA will continue to hire faculty that are a good fit for the role
they will serve.
“If the positions can be filled by junior faculty, they
will be considered,” she said.