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TFA Electronic Briefing Spring 2006
Welcome to the spring 2006 edition of the Texas Faculty Association's electronic briefing. Our objective is to provide our members with timely and important information regarding Texas higher education.
In this briefing:
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Faculty salaries close the gap in Texas four-year institutions but continue to lag behind the national average in two-year institutions
In 2004-2005, the last year for which we have reliable data, salaries in Texas four-year public institutions of higher education closed the gap considerably on the national average. Based on figures from The NEA 2006 Almanac of Higher Education, in 2004-2005, the national average salary for faculty members in four-year public institutions stood at $66,002 compared to $65,185 for Texas—a difference of only $817 or 1.2 percent. In the previous year, salaries in Texas four-year public institutions had lagged $3,229, or 5 percent, behind the national average. Overall, salary increases in 2004-2005 averaged 6.5 percent in Texas four-year public institutions—the fourth largest percentage gain among the states. However, salary increases in Texas two-year institutions did not fare nearly as well. The national average salary for faculty members in two-year institutions in 2004-2005 stood at $53,934 compared to $47,602 for Texas—a difference of $6,332 or 11.7 percent. In the previous year, salaries in Texas two-year institutions had lagged $6,942, or 13 percent, behind the national average. In 2004-2005, faculty salaries in Texas public two-year institutions increased by an average of only 3.2 percent. For more information on faculty salaries, see the article, Faculty Salaries: 2004-2005 by Suzanne B. Clery and Amelia M. Topper in the NEA 2006 Almanac.
TFA budget analysis shows South Texas College has resources to raise faculty salaries to the statewide average
An analysis of South Texas College's budget commissioned by the South Texas Faculty Association/TFA reveals the college has the resources to raise faculty salaries to the statewide average for community colleges. Dr. Leroy Dubeck, a professor of physics at Temple University, conducted the analysis by examining STC's audited financial reports for fiscal years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Professor Dubeck is one of the nation's leading authorities on college and university budgets. Although South Texas College's financial position is indisputably strong, faculty salaries continue to lag thousands of dollars behind the state average—no matter whose statistics you examine. Based on the findings in Dr. Dubeck's review of the financial standing of STC, the South Texas Faculty Association/TFA has urged the Board of Trustees to approve a sixteen percent salary increase for the 2006-2007 academic year. A sixteen percent raise will move South Texas College next year near the projected average salary for community college faculty members in the state of Texas—about $47,000 annually on a nine-month contract.
Case before U.S. Supreme Court could limit free speech rights of professors
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it would rehear a case, Garcetti v. Ceballos, involving the rights of public employees. Although the case does not directly relate to higher education, the Texas Faculty Association and its parent organization, the National Education Association, fear that an adverse ruling could significantly curtail the free-expression rights of professors at public institutions. NEA has filed an amicus brief in the case. The issue in Garcetti is whether the First Amendment protects public employees from retaliation for what they say on the job. The plaintiff in the case is a deputy district attorney from Los Angeles named Ceballos who claims that he was punished for writing an internal memo to his superiors disclosing that a deputy sheriff had lied in a sworn affidavit used to obtain a search warrant. Both parties agree that the subject matter of the memo—police malfeasance—is a matter of public concern, but the government employer (supported by the Bush administration) is arguing that Cabellos' speech is entitled to no First Amendment protection because he was speaking in his role as an employee, and thus it was constitutionally permissible to punish him for such speech. If the Court accepts the government's argument, then college and university professors will enjoy no First Amendment protection from retaliation for classroom speech, or indeed utterances made as a faculty senator. (Note: Some of the information above is drawn from the article, The Alito Impact, appearing in Inside Higher Ed on February 21, 2006.)
Texas A&M University-Kingsville faculty narrowly approves revised faculty senate constitution
The Texas A&M University-Kingsville faculty has approved a revised constitution by a slim majority of the votes cast. About two-thirds of the faculty voted in the referendum on the constitution. Last fall, TAMUK President Rumaldo Juarez suspended the 34-member faculty senate and created a constitutional task force to revise the university's current constitution. President Juarez also prohibited any of the suspended faculty senate executive committee's members from serving on the task force. Juarez's actions were precipitated by the faculty senate's vote of no confidence in him following his unilateral implementation of new standards for promotion and tenure. TFA objected vigorously to the president's egregious violation of the principles of shared governance and caused his actions to be widely publicized. The revised constitution's provisions fall far short of genuine shared governance, though it does allow for a modicum of input from faculty senators. Indeed, Texas A&M University System policies do not allow for shared governance, permitting component institutions only to create "advisory bodies." In TFA's view, events at TAMUK set a horrible precedent for universities in the A&M System. In the future, clearly faculty senators in TAMU component universities will think twice before vigorously opposing administrative actions and policies lest their faculty senate receives the death sentence, as did TAMUK's.
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Letter from STFA President regarding the departure of Mary Aldridge
TFA Legislative Roundup
The TFA UTMB-Galveston chapter blog
2004-2005 Faculty Salary Data
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Community Colleges
From the Coordinating Board
An Overview of TRS
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