I have been teaching minisession since my first year at USM.  The May minisession is critical for me as I cannot survive the summer without that extra pay.  An assistant professor who teaches 3 courses during the summer takes home about 2,600 per month.  I cannot survive on $2,600 per month. 

I haven't studied the data intently, but I can't imagine that the few minisession courses taught with enrollment somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 makes a huge dent in summer enrollment.  I could be wrong, but I just don't think minisession courses are greatly affecting summer enrollment.

I would like to add that I offer a rigourous minisession course and I'm confident that the majority of faculty in my department do the same.

I'm a little disheartened that senior faculty have not come to support junior faculty on this issue.  My guess is that senior faculty are not very interested b/c the assistant folks are receiving the biggest cut and many senior faculty do not teach minisession courses anyway.  Also, senior faculty pay for the summer is quite a bit more than that of the assistant folks.

For those of you who have been around USM for some time, has there ever been an instance where administration cut pay?  Is it okay to tolerate such a move?  My feeling is that any paycut is intolerable given our below average regular pay and horrid summer pay.

A little university history might be helpful in understanding how things got to where they are now. USM has never had as much money as State or Ole Miss to do everything we would like or even need to do. It has always been a zero sum game internally. During the Lucas administration, nine-month faculty salaries were a very high priority. In many years USM had the highest faculty salaries in the state. At the same time, summer term was seen as a major source of needed income for the university. Every effort was made to grow summer programs and enrollment to augment the university budget, and the USM summer enrollment was the largest in the state. Summer term salaries were very low compared to other universities in general and State and Ole Miss in particular, and there was an understanding that summers were an opportunity for some faculty members to participate in overseas programs or to work on personal research. That was only possible if nine-month salaries were adequate, and summer school revenue would be available to support those salaries.


Over time, summer term has come to be seen as free standing. Revenues would cover expenses for the term including salaries. Believe it or not, summer salaries are much higher than under the old approach in a relative sense, and nine month salaries are much lower relative to State and Ole Miss. It is my understanding that summer enrollment is no longer the largest in the state. I can see how faculty members who find their nine-month salaries inadequate have become dependent on summer or minisession salaries to cover their needs. Whether the university has drifted into the present situation or it reflects policy decisions would be worthy of discussion. I can say that the old approach to summer term and nine-month salaries seemed to work reasonably well, and it aided faculty growth and retention.