Open Letter on the 1% Solution

Today the letter below was sent to Board of Curators Chairman Don Walsworth, interim President of the MU System Gordon Lamb, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton and MU Faculty Council President Rex Campbell. For background, see the previous post.

May 11, 2007

The home page for the University of Missouri system heralds this institution as "one of the nation's largest and most prestigious public research universities." Given the university's long history of service to the state of Missouri, Workers in Education at the University of Missouri (WE-MU), a coalition of faculty and staff affiliated with the Missouri National Education Association, applaud the Board of Curators' recognition that a great university must offer competitive salaries to faculty and staff in order to continue this record. At the same time, we object strongly to the plan to finance future salary increases through internal reallocation of funds.

We suspect that very few faculty and administrators endorse the Board of Curators' plan, even if they have not openly questioned it. We suspect, further, that we are not the only ones who believe that the Board of Curators' Plan is an abdication of the State of Missouri's basic responsibility to provide quality, affordable higher education to its citizens. We are not the only ones who would like to see a tradition begun in 1839, with the establishment of "the first publicly supported institution of higher education established in the Louisiana Territory,"well maintained.

And yet, the state's flagship university system is being asked to fund salary increases through a $4.2 million reduction in the General Operating budget each year, beginning with the next fiscal year. What may not be clear is that the university has already suffered a 7% cut in state funding over the past six years, as the inflation rate rose 15%.Missouri ranks 46th in the nation for state funding to higher education. It is difficult to see how the University of Missouri can continue to be one of the nation's most prestigious public research universities if public funding continues to decline at such a sharp rate.

The logic behind the Curators' plan to fund salaries through further budget cutting, therefore, is difficult to see. Although the Curators recognize that the university is behind its peers in faculty salaries (with averages far below the flagship institutions of neighboring states Kansas and Illinois), their mandate to fund salary increases solely by essentially stealing money from the university budget itself will only ensure that the university will slide quickly from its historical reputation as one of the nation's finest institutions. The university's cannibalization will in turn cripple its mission to provide high-quality education and marketable degrees to Missouri citizens.

Moreover, the plan's proposed implementation is fatally flawed.Responding to the Curators' directive, university administrators ask that proposals for "cost savings" (i.e., internal reallocations to fund salary increases) be submitted within one month! Under the best of circumstances, a real study to identify supposed "inefficiencies" (i.e., cost-cutting targets) at a large and complex institution such as the University of Missouri would require much more time and careful consideration. Without this planning, possible candidates for elimination or reduction will almost surely be evaluated largely according to their political and economic clout, rather than their comparative value to the university's educational mission. Well-funded units, programs, and individuals linked to powerful constituencies within or outside the university will be spared, whereas others will be targeted for cuts simply because of their vulnerability.

Thus, the most likely targets will be small departments, particularly in the academically central but chronically under-funded Arts & Science College, as well as the already financially-starved library system, and among adjunct or non-tenure track faculty and among staff members, generally. Thus, the university's most poorly-funded units and poorly-remunerated employees are the most likely victims of the cannibalization process. Moreover, we see no evidence that staff members--the worst paid of all university employees--or adjunct, non-tenured faculty are guaranteed any salary increases in the Curators' plan.

The Missouri public's demand for quality and affordable higher education, of course, deserves a better response from its politicians and their appointees on the Board of Curators. We therefore protest this plan and call for our fellow University of Missouri administrators, faculty, and staff to join with us. Protest the Board of Curators'ill-judged directive, collectively and individually, publicly and privately. Don't let Missouri's politicians and public assume, by your silence, that you approve this plan.


Sincerely,

Workers in Education-University of Missouri (WE-MU)

Background on the 1% Solution (AKA The Cannibalization Plan)

Here is the text of the email that the MU faculty received April 30 from the Faculty Council. It announced the Board of Curators plan to pay for salary increases by ordering the university to cannibalize itself and asked faculty members to help out by suggesting cuts. Since MU is a public institution and its workings should be public information, I trust there will no objection to posting the text here to give readers some context for our open letter above.

Hi:

As the saying goes, there is good news and bad news concerning future salary increases. The good news is that the Board of Curators recognizes that the average academic salaries at UM are lower than most of our peer institutions and the Board wants to increase our average. The bad news is that we on the campuses have to come up with the money for the needed raises.

The funds starting with the 2009 fiscal year must come from cost reductions, not from increased revenues. Both the Board and state legislature are limiting any student fee increases to the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). And as is usual in Missouri, any future increases in state appropriations for higher education are highly uncertain.

The Board of Curators at their April 6 meeting at UMR (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) passed the following motion:

“…that the President create an Efficiencies Account equivalent to 1% of the University of Missouri’s operating budget, to be funded by program review; prioritization; program elimination, reduction and/or consolidation; and operating efficiencies, as identified and recommended by the President and Chancellors for contribution to and funding of the University's compensation package in the coming fiscal year.”

This will require a $4.2M reduction in the General Operating budget each year beginning with the next fiscal year. Please note there is no “sunset” provision in the motion. It will be up to the Board to decide when to stop the 1% reductions.

Chancellor Deaton and Provost Foster have asked three committees to start work immediately on this large and important task. These are a 1% Academic Planning Committee that I chair, an Administrative Committee that Provost Foster chairs and the Strategic Planning and Resources Advisory Committee (SPRAC) that John David chairs. There is overlapping membership between the three committees to insure coordination.

The Chancellor and Provost have asked that we use two time horizons in our planning. The first is for the 2009 fiscal year ($4.2M reductions) and the second is a five year plan ($25M reductions).

Obviously, this is going to be a very difficult and very important task. We need your ideas as to how to make significant cost savings at MU. One rule to keep in mind is that tenure must be honored. Tenured professors cannot be fired unless there is fiscal exigency and this does not qualify as such. A couple of additional rules are: you cannot eliminate a campus, and you cannot eliminate the system administration.

We are working on a very short timeline. We must have our first year recommendation (2009 fiscal year) to the Chancellor by late May or the first part of June and our five year plan by January 1, 2008.

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR COST REDUCTIONS AT MU TO (facultycouncil@missouri.edu) BY MAY 10, 2007.

Your suggestions may be for the first year, five years or both. All suggestions will be referred to the 1% Academic Committee for consideration.

The 1% Academic Committee members are: Robert Almony, Rachel Anderson (MSA president), Pam Benoit, Bill Bondeson, Mike Devaney, John David, Carolyn Herrington, Bill Lamberson, Mike Nolan, Jenice Prather-Kinsey, Frank Schmidt, Laura Schopp, Rebekah Hart (staff) and Rex Campbell, Chair.

Please reply today.

Thanks,

Rex Campbell

Professor of Rural Sociology

Chair of MU Faculty Council

Chair of 1% Academic Planning Committee