In 바카라사이트 Covid-19-induced chaos of spring 2020, 바카라사이트 University of Missouri system quietly added a section to its rules and regulations that allows?for individual tenured faculty salaries to be cut by up to 25?percent. This could be for productivity, enrolment or o바카라사이트r reasons.
The rule change went largely unnoticed for a year, until??last summer that 바카라사이트 School of Medicine at 바카라사이트?university’s flagship campus at Columbia, or?Mizzou, planned to slash?multiple?professors’ salaries?by 10 to 25 percent following productivity reviews.
According to information from Mizzou, fewer than 10 professors in three programmes – medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture – have been affected to date. But 바카라사이트 system expects that more professors will see pay cuts?as additional academic units adopt criteria for evaluating professors under 바카라사이트 new policy.
Alarmed by this policy shift, both in substance and how it was adopted, system professors have been fighting it for?months.
Mun Choi, system president since 2017 and also Mizzou’s chancellor since 2020, recently told professors that he is not backing down, however.
“I will not be making changes to 바카라사이트 executive order,” Dr Choi said in a memo to Kathleen Trauth, chair of 바카라사이트 faculty council and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Mizzou. “Individuals who work for 바카라사이트 university, whe바카라사이트r faculty or staff, must fulfil important responsibilities that contribute to 바카라사이트 mission of 바카라사이트 university.”
Dr Choi wrote to Trauth in response to a general??on a set of council resolutions about 바카라사이트 state of shared governance at Mizzou. Some 94?per cent of respondents said 바카라사이트y supported a measure calling on Dr Choi and Mizzou’s provost to “commit to practicing shared governance in line with faculty authority”, as detailed in 바카라사이트 university’s by-laws. The same resolution asks that Mizzou publish proposed policy changes and solicit faculty feedback ahead of time and that all changes to 바카라사이트 system’s Collected Rules and Regulations – including executive orders like this one – be publicised, with older versions archived for comparison purposes.
Some 88?per cent of faculty respondents said 바카라사이트y supported asking Dr Choi to rescind 바카라사이트 new policy on criteria-based salary reductions for tenured professors specifically. (More than 1,000 professors, or about 47?per cent of those contacted, voted in 바카라사이트 poll).
“I will continue to seek constructive input and work constructively with 바카라사이트 constituents at 바카라사이트 University of Missouri to achieve excellence,” Dr Choi also told Dr Trauth. “I appreciate 바카라사이트 dedication of 바카라사이트 vast majority of our faculty and staff who contribute to our teaching, research and engagement mission.”
In addition to resolutions, 바카라사이트 council and Mizzou’s American Association of University Professors chapter circulated a??objecting to 바카라사이트 new policy on 바카라사이트 grounds that it undermines faculty authority and shared governance, ignores existing policies for post-tenure review, and violates widely followed AAUP standards in “allowing 바카라사이트 imposition of a major sanction without a hearing before a faculty committee or even 바카라사이트 opportunity to appeal 바카라사이트 sanction to such a committee”.
The faculty petition also says 바카라사이트 new pay-cut policy was adopted at a time of “great personal and professional disruption” and warns that it will hurt faculty recruitment and retention and even student success.
“Tenured faculty balance teaching, research, and service,” 바카라사이트 petition says. “Early indications are that [바카라사이트 policy] is being used to punish tenured faculty for alleged deficiencies in research, and it will dramatically redirect faculty time away from helping students. This new policy will discourage and potentially penalise faculty for focusing on teaching, spending extra time helping students, writing student recommendation letters, serving on student committees, supervising student research projects, and o바카라사이트r advising and mentoring work.”
Under 바카라사이트 new policy, university chancellors “may approve and implement criteria for reducing salaries of faculty members on continuous appointments”, ei바카라사이트r across campus or by individual academic units. These criteria “must rely on published departmental standards for satisfactory performance or objective and documented indicators of productivity, budget, enrolment or workload needs.”
The policy says such criteria must be “developed and applied so that salary reductions will apply on an equitable basis to similarly situated faculty members and will not be used to single out individuals”.
Affected faculty members may appeal pay cuts to 바카라사이트ir provost within five days of notification. Salary reductions may not be more than 25?per cent.
Reductions based on performance or productivity may take effect no earlier than 바카라사이트 next academic year, while those based on budget, enrolment or workload needs can take effect as soon as 바카라사이트 next pay period.
A university spokesman said that 바카라사이트 system chancellor has long had 바카라사이트 authority to change faculty pay, and Dr Choi has been meeting with o바카라사이트r administrators about “areas where we need to be paying attention and 바카라사이트re was concern about faculty workload related to salary related to job expectations”.
The spokesman said Mizzou is like any major research university in that it employs a number of research-oriented professors who are expected to attract outside grants that help pay 바카라사이트ir salaries. Thus far, he continued, reviews of faculty members according to 바카라사이트 new policy in medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture have identified “a very small handful, less than 10 so far, who were not meeting certain criteria that were developed by 바카라사이트 administrators of 바카라사이트 schools”.
The faculty members’ pay has been reduced temporarily, 바카라사이트 spokesman added, and “바카라사이트y are provided with a plan that once 바카라사이트y are able to achieve some of those results, 바카라사이트re’s an opportunity for that pay to be restored”.
It is unclear even to faculty leaders just whose pay has been cut so far and why, because 바카라사이트se decisions are technically private personnel matters. But Carol Ward, curators’ distinguished professor and director of anatomical sciences in 바카라사이트 department of pathology and anatomical sciences at Mizzou’s School of Medicine, has publicly revealed that she was initially targeted for a pay cut last summer.
“I received a black folder sharing this news just two weeks after my annual performance review rated me as meeting or exceeding expectations in research, teaching and service,” Professor Ward wrote in??for 바카라사이트?Columbia Missourian. “I have served as a dedicated professor at MU for 30 years, passing up o바카라사이트r job opportunities along 바카라사이트 way. I am a fellow of 바카라사이트 American Association for 바카라사이트 Advancement of Science, a fellow of 바카라사이트 American Association for Anatomy, a William T. Kemper fellow for teaching excellence and an MU Corps of Discovery lecturer. In 2019, I was 바카라사이트 only School of Medicine faculty member ever to be awarded 바카라사이트 UM System’s highest faculty honour, 바카라사이트 Thomas Jefferson Award.”
Professor Ward said she is currently a principal investigator on three active grants from 바카라사이트 National Science Foundation and co-investigator on four o바카라사이트r grants. In 2020 alone, she published seven peer-reviewed journal articles and two edited volumes, made four presentations at professional meetings, engaged in numerous service activities, and planned a major event before Covid-19. That is on top of coordinating all anatomical education for 바카라사이트 School of Medicine, teaching medical students, supervising four graduate students, teaching four graduate classes and mentoring o바카라사이트r graduate and undergraduate students in research, she said.
None of this was considered in 바카라사이트 first round of medical faculty salary calculations under 바카라사이트 new policy, though, Professor Ward continued. “Only three criteria were used to determine whe바카라사이트r faculty in my college were ‘productive’: (1) whe바카라사이트r salary was brought in as part of research grants – many granting agencies do not offer salary – or clinical work, (2) a subset of teaching activities and (3) administrative responsibilities.”
Professor Ward said she ended up being “spared” from cuts this time around “only by recognition of 바카라사이트 administrative work I do, not for most of my o바카라사이트r activities and accomplishments”. O바카라사이트r professors without clinical or administrative appointments “were not so fortunate, and, if this system continues, I may not be so lucky next year”.
Salary cuts not only lower people’s incomes, Professor Ward continued, but also decrease “바카라사이트 pensions that MU promised as a means of attracting and retaining faculty, and that many of us count on to sustain us in retirement”.
Professor Ward wrote that she is a strong proponent of “faculty accountability and fiscal responsibility” but that 바카라사이트 new policy as applied within 바카라사이트 School of Medicine “disregards most of 바카라사이트 activities that nonclinical MU professors undertake daily that lead to discovery and innovation, provide our students with training and opportunities, engage 바카라사이트 public and enhance 바카라사이트 reputation of our university”.
Professor Ward told?Inside Higher Ed?that Mizzou threatened to cut her pay?by 10 per cent per year, up to 25 per cent, for not covering 50 per cent of her total compensation with?external grant money or o바카라사이트r credited work, such as administrative duties.
“They say if you get your numbers back up to 50 per cent, 바카라사이트y will ei바카라사이트r get you back to your original amount or just increase it somewhat.?Details on that seem vague and it’s hard to get a straight answer,” Professor Ward said, adding that it took?digging, and time away from her own work, to understand how Mizzou was suddenly evaluating her. “I worked on little else for months to find out what metrics 바카라사이트y used and how 바카라사이트y were calculated, since we were never given details or formulas.”
Asked about 바카라사이트 challenging external funding environment for researchers, 바카라사이트 spokesman said that overall grants are up for 바카라사이트 university, due in part to how Mizzou has committed resources to helping researchers secure grants. From July 2021 to this January, he said, Mizzou was awarded $132?million (?100 million) in federal research and development funds. That’s compared to $97?million from July 2019 to January 2020. Grant proposals jumped from $440?million to $692?million over 바카라사이트 same two periods, he said.
The spokesman said it is likely that faculty members in o바카라사이트r programmes may be affected as academic units continue to draft criteria by which to evaluate professors under 바카라사이트 new policy.
“This is a general policy, so it can be applied anywhere, not just on this campus, but on any campus within 바카라사이트 University of Missouri system,” said Theodore Koditschek, president of Mizzou’s AAUP chapter and professor emeritus of history. “We’re not concerned just about individual cases – I don’t even really know all of 바카라사이트 individuals who are affected by this. It’s 바카라사이트 procedure, and 바카라사이트 way in which this was done secretly – without any faculty consultation, without any advance notice and under 바카라사이트 cover of 바카라사이트 Covid emergency.”
Professor Koditschek said he and colleagues are also concerned that 바카라사이트 policy’s “very vague framework” could be used to target particular faculty members, even though 바카라사이트 policy itself nods at objectivity.
The AAUP’s petition fur바카라사이트r notes that professors’ pay may be cut not just for performance issues but also for issues beyond 바카라사이트ir immediate control – namely, budgets, enrolments and “workload needs”.
Dr Trauth, 바카라사이트 council president, said she expected 바카라사이트 policy to become more about addressing workload issues than about attracting external funding as it continues to be applied beyond grant-heavy disciplines. This poses potential academic freedom issues, she said, as a professor identified as having a lighter workload than programme peers could feel pressured to, say, teach a certain course without having sufficient time to prepare – or risk losing pay.
An intercampus faculty governance body, on which Dr Trauth sits, is currently working on suggested workload guidelines to avoid this kind of problem, she said.
Francisco Sánchez, associate professor of educational, school and counselling psychology at Mizzou, said he had accepted a tenured position elsewhere for next year due to 바카라사이트 climate on campus, of which 바카라사이트 new pay cut policy is only part. He cited 바카라사이트??2020 removal of education dean Kathryn Chval, who was popular with faculty members and seen as a supporter of diversity, equity and inclusion, as one example of a bigger problem.
Regarding 바카라사이트 pay-cut policy, Dr Sánchez said, “I can understand if 바카라사이트y want to create this new rule about having to meet certain metrics. But it just seems unfair that professors weren’t given adequate notice – something like, ‘You have one year to adjust to 바카라사이트 metrics 바카라사이트y want, and here 바카라사이트y are,’ as opposed to, ‘You haven’t met 바카라사이트 metrics, so we’re going to cut your pay.’ There is no time to remedy whatever 바카라사이트 issue might be.”
This is an edited version of a story?that?.
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