Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 09:18:26 -0800
To: Peter B Gilkey gilkey@darkwing.uoregon.edu
From: eah@math.uoregon.edu (Elizabeth Housworth)
Subject: Information regarding Senate Resolution US9900-7

MEMO TO: Senate President Peter Gilkey
MEMO FROM: Senator Elizabeth Housworth
MEMO RE: Information regarding Senate Resolution US9900-7
DATE: 13 January 2000

Dear President Gilkey,

I am writing to you to request information regarding Senate resolution US9900-7 on the distribution of salary increases.  As you recall, during the debate on resolution US9900-7, Provost Moseley suggested that the Senate consider how raises are actually distributed to individuals at this institution and he suggested that we would find that they peak very fairly. I do not doubt that this will indeed be the case and the Provost's office indicated it would provide this information to the senate. However, even though this distribution of raises will probably peak fairly, if the data is collected and displayed as accumulated raises of individuals over many years, it will also be very variable and spread out.

What I would like are figures on how the possible raises were distributed to departments. The data provided by Senator Greg McLauchlan at the meeting was from 1991 to 1999 and, as an example, reported that in 1991, the Oregon consumer price index was 5.1%, the amount UO had for COLA increases was 3%, the amount UO had for Merit increases was 2%, and the amount UO had for retention of faculty was 0%. Senior Vice Provost Davis indicated that these were the amounts given to each college or division. However, as I understand it, one complaint that some people have voiced is that the Deans do not pass these percentages down to each unit under them in exactly the percentages that they receive them.

I do believe that the difference is small, although small differences can compound over time. I believe and have every confidence that in fact these differences will balance themselves out over time, but I would like the data to be able to prove it. What I would like exactly is data for the years 1991-1999 (or 2000). The College of Arts and Sciences is probably fairly representative in this respect. I would like to know the exact percentage each department or academic unit within CAS received for raises in each of the three categories: COLA, Merit, and Retention. Provost Moseley suggested that Associate Dean Marianne Nicols would be able to provide this information as well as other related useful material. Should you be able to obtain similar information from the Professional Schools, that would, of course, be most welcome.

Raises for individuals vary for two reasons - because the amount their unit receives varies and because the amount their unit passes on to them varies. The information the Provost's office provides to the Senate on individual raises will undoubtedly produce a distribution that varies widely. There may be a strong argument that raises are not fair, even if the Provost's distribution is peaked fairly, if a substantial number of hard-working professors are failing significantly to keep up with inflation as may be the case if the Provost's distribution varies a great deal. It would be of use to know if this variance is partly due to the variance in what academic units receive from their Deans.

Thank you very much. Sincerely,

UO Senator Elizabeth Housworth
Mathematics Department University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon 97403 (541) 346-4735 eah@math.uoregon.edu

Dear Dean Nocols:

I am attaching a letter from UO Senator Housworth requesting information from CAS relevant to the debate in the UO concerning Senate Motion US9900-7 concerning COLA increases. The information is also perhaps relevant to the wider debate occuring in the University Community concerning the Senate Budget Committee White Paper.

In brief, I believe Senator Housworth is interested in the extent to which different units within a given college may have been been impacted differentially (or variably) over the past 10 years with regard to salary (compensation) increases. The question is particularly important for CAS; possibly less so for other Professional Schools many of whom are perhaps more homogeneous. At any rate, since CAS is roughly 50-60\% of the UO, it seems appropriate to start there.

When I talked with Joe, he indicated that the information Senator Housworth was seeking could probably be fairly easily be obtained by looking at the departmental breakdowns for the AAU report and comparing the years 1991 versus the latest report. The comparisons might give rather easily information concerning differential impact by department within CAS - have some departments moved ahead more rapidly (or fallen behind more rapidly) than others. And this approach could involve less work and be more accurate than the methodology originally suggested in Professor Housworth's letter. My goal is not to make additional work for an already overburdened CAS but to obtain what information can be had fairly easily on the question at hand.

I should also welcome any additional information concerning compensation and/or differentiation that CAS would like to share with the Senate. I should like to post all information on the Senate Web Pages and share it widely with the Senators and other members of the UO community. Let me thank you in advance for any help you can afford the Senate in this matter. But I emphasize, I am looking for relatively easily obtainable information - we do not wish to create a large amount of additional work.

Peter B Gilkey (UO Senate President 1999-2000)