Printz Opinion--Pay raises steal from students - USM Forum -- Message Board

Reporter · Status: Offline

Printz Opinion--Pay raises steal from students

Reporter · Status: Offline

OOps, sorry Moderator. I was trying to make the link hot again, but that messed up your edit. Please remove this post.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

Wow, this is a really illogical argument. Should those receiving promotions NOT receive pay increases? Joe Morgan from Director of Purchasing to CFO and Allyson Easterwood from Reports Manager (or something like that) to Controller? I still believe they are well under the amounts their counterparts at Ole Miss and Ms State (and other similar institutions) make.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

I think the point was, how can USM plead poverty (increased fees due to Katrinia) and give people such large increases?

If we are that bad off, I agree start cutting at the top, turn off that stupid sign, stop running commercials.

Why do we run TV commercials anyway? Who is watching local TV that doesnt know a college is here?!

Date: Apr 26, 2007

That may have been the writers point but that point is flawed.

There exists a position in which the Controller is budgeted to make $100,000. Allyson gets a promotion and her salary then becomes $90,000 - that's still less than Dana was making. Same with Joe - he makes less than Gregg was making.

There is no "fleecing" occuring - period. How many people on this board look at $70K and think "wow, that's a heap of money!" After taxes and our silly benefits you bring home $4,000/month. For a CPA that's not considered much; and we have a whole office full of them. Only a college student would think such.

And EVERY institution in the state requested and received increases last year - it's a necessity for all. Less progressive state funding + inflation = higher tuition. Duh.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

looking at the "what does your professor make" post

I would say most of mine would say thats a HEAP of money! Its almost double than what most of them make.

Especially when the median family income in Forrest county is 35k.

I also work full time and make way less than that. There are no high paying jobs in Hattiesburg.

70k is way more than most non-MD jobs here in town. Degree or not.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

Show me a Dean, Asst Dean, Chair, or Full Prof that makes $40k - thats the level we are discussing.

Also, while our instructors make less than the typical comp so do our administrator; as does our professional staff. It's all comparible. Don't treat unequal people equally - it's unfair to all.

Lastly, I work full-time also and make less than that . . . but I'm not the CFO. Maybe one day. I'll continue to work hard and we'll see. If you are only going to pay $70K I think I'll go back into the private sector; the pay AND benefits are much better.

LVN · Status: Offline

It would really help if you anonymous posters would give yourselves some kind of signature at the end of each post. It's hard to follow the discussion. Actually we ought to go back to registered-only posting, like every other message board I'm on.

Southern Belle · Status: Offline

I have not read the article, but I wonder if a graduating undergraduate would accept a position paying what staff makes on campus? I seriously doubt it.

They also need to realize that our raises do not come out of tuition but are allocated through the State budget.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

Yes the pay for staff at USM is appalling. As for faculty pay, as hard as it is for Hattiesburg natives to realize this, faculty pay is not related to pay for other professions in Hattiesburg. It is related to pay for faculty members across the entire region. And USM's pay is considerably lower than that of comparable schools. Where I work now entry level salaries for professors in my department are significantly higher than what some experienced associate and full profs made at USM when I was there.

I think what bothered me most when I worked at USM was not how high or low my pay was, but was the sense that merit did not make for raises, it took being a crony of the appropriate people. Although the student writer may not have a grip on where the money comes from, I agree that money should not be rewarded to administrators and Thames's favorites at the expense of increased spending on the library or the basics to make it possible to teach the students.

Richer now in many ways

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

The problem I have with administrators using salaries at comparable institutions as the justification for raises is that they rarely apply the same perspective to faculty and staff salaries. If salaries at USM are going to be low and uncompetitive, that should be the case across the board until all positions can be well compensated.

I should also point out that very few USM administrators have left for more money or a more prestigeous position while many faculty and staff members have done so. It appears that USM adminitrators are not a hot commodity.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

Well said, Curmudgeon. The handful of administrators that have left since the SFT era certainly have not "stepped up" to a more prestigious institution.
Valuable qualified staff, on the other hand, have done well--just one case in point, Dana Keith. And we only have to look at our farewell lists to see how the faculty have done.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

previous post from Interested Onlooker

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

my 25+ years experience at usm tell me that few administrators (particularly on the academic side) at the deans level or higher have moved on to other universities, whether better universities or not. I can think of only a couple of deans (Martray and Doblin) who moved on, an interim provost (Andy Griffin) who moved on to department chair at georgia tech, and a couple of CFOs (Gilbert and Lassen). Some colleges had one dean for years. USM's history has not been one of administrators moving on--most retire here.

Date: Apr 26, 2007

stinky cheese man wrote:

USM's history has not been one of administrators moving on--most retire here.

I've noticed that too, Stinky. Why might that be?

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

i don't really have an answer. while lucas was president, he would only hire people at the upper levels who he could observe for awhile. as a consequence, they tended to be older and closer to retirement. we also haven't had many administrators who are "professional" administrators--by that i mean folks who were looking to move up toward a presidency. i'm not sure that's a bad thing--sometimes professional administrators engage in what i call "hit-and-run"--try out ideas here that will help them move up and then leave, sometimes leaving a mess.

Godless Liberal · Status: Offline

stinky cheese man wrote:

i don't really have an answer. while lucas was president, he would only hire people at the upper levels who he could observe for awhile. as a consequence, they tended to be older and closer to retirement. we also haven't had many administrators who are "professional" administrators--by that i mean folks who were looking to move up toward a presidency. i'm not sure that's a bad thing--sometimes professional administrators engage in what i call "hit-and-run"--try out ideas here that will help them move up and then leave, sometimes leaving a mess.

I largely agree with both of your posts (also Brad Bond moved on to a nice admin position). However, we have had a recent tendency to hire more professional administrators, with their prior admin experiences coming from non-academic settings. For example, the Shelby folks have appointed an interesting cadre of P-12 admin types to Chair, Dean, Vice-Provost, and Assoc Dean positions (some interim), and Joan is quick to remind about her hospital admin creds. Julian Alan (assoc VP Res) was a military guy. None are known primarily for their scholarship. And most of these people are qualitatively different with respect to their management effectiveness compared to some of the good folks you mentioned (for better or worse, our current Dean is not a Carl Martray).

Date: Apr 26, 2007

stinky cheese man wrote:

i don't really have an answer.

Could it pertain largely to (a) their degree of mobility, (c) their attachment to Hattiesburg or to USM, (c) Toughing it out until retirement, (d) none of these.

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

let me add option (e): all of the above.