The Washington State conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) will be conducting a program tomorrow addressing matters of university presidential and adjunct faculty compensation.
The forum is open to the public.
"I think the major issue at stake is that universities in recent years have become run like corporations," said Keith Hoeller, one of the event's coordinators and speakers. The AAUP believes one solution to the problem is to cap presidential salaries.
"We believe $300,000 a year to be quite sufficient," Hoeller said. "Presidential salaries are set much like CEOs of major corporations. They seem to be based more on what the market will bear and what will keep presidents jumping to other schools. Right now the danger is that we're attracting people because of the money rather than their desire to help the school."
Another flagship issue of the AAUP that will be addressed is the extensive employment of adjunct or part-time faculty, staff who cannot receive tenure or competitive wages. As such, universities tend to employ vastly more adjunct faculty to avoid the cost of maintaining tenured salaries, Hoeller said.
Because adjuncts are paid less, they have less incentive to provide a first-rate education, Hoeller said.
"Tenure is expensive," Hoeller said. "It takes a commitment to faculty, but using adjuncts undercuts the purpose of a university to educate."
Also addressing these and other issues at the event will be Roger Bowen, general secretary of the national AAUP; Jane Buck, past president of the national AAUP; and Rick Gautschi, a lecturer from the UW Business School.
Reach reporter Jeff Tripoli at newsasst@thedaily.washington.edu.
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