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The Daily OrangeSU dwarfed in salary rankings: Recent faculty earnings report compares pay with other schools
By Melanie Zilora
Posted: 1/24/08, 10:44 PM EST Section: News
Once again, Syracuse University professors are among the lowest-paid at private universities,
according to this year's Committee Z Report. In its group of 30 peer universities, SU landed 20, which is the lowest of any private university in that grouping.
Despite the grim statistics, SU professors seem to be taking it in stride and some with good reason. During the past three years, 45 professors have received salaries three times the rate of inflation.
Yet Syracuse professors are not overpaid, according to American Association of University Professors (AAUP) president and Whitman professor Patrick Cihon.
"The group of 45 with significant raises…if you take them out, it's a very different picture. In the future we may run it both ways," Cihon said. AAUP is the organization responsible for producing the Committee Z Report.
The report points out that more than a third of Syracuse professors have received a raise lower than the rate of inflation, including several faculty members who actually experienced pay cuts.
For Cihon, this is an alarming statistic. "Obviously that's an area for concern; we'd want to know if it is people who are being sent messages for underachieving, or if it's a political action by the department."
Still, Cihon remains optimistic about future faculty compensation.
"If you go back to the early to mid-90s, we were consistently getting raises under the cost of living, but in the last few years we've been doing better," Cihon said. "The benefits package is relatively good; SU is generous with their compensation toward TIAA-CREF (The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund), and dependent tuition is certainly an attractive proposition."
Dr. Don Dutkowsky, director of graduate studies for the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs economics program, believes salary flexibility is a more powerful recruitment tool for Syracuse.
"Our natural starting place is behind where others are, but for an individual offer you can change it depending on how much you want that person," Dutkowsky said. "There's so much individual negotiation that goes on, you start at the mean but work upward to get someone or keep someone."
according to this year's Committee Z Report. In its group of 30 peer universities, SU landed 20, which is the lowest of any private university in that grouping.
Despite the grim statistics, SU professors seem to be taking it in stride and some with good reason. During the past three years, 45 professors have received salaries three times the rate of inflation.
Yet Syracuse professors are not overpaid, according to American Association of University Professors (AAUP) president and Whitman professor Patrick Cihon.
"The group of 45 with significant raises…if you take them out, it's a very different picture. In the future we may run it both ways," Cihon said. AAUP is the organization responsible for producing the Committee Z Report.
The report points out that more than a third of Syracuse professors have received a raise lower than the rate of inflation, including several faculty members who actually experienced pay cuts.
For Cihon, this is an alarming statistic. "Obviously that's an area for concern; we'd want to know if it is people who are being sent messages for underachieving, or if it's a political action by the department."
Still, Cihon remains optimistic about future faculty compensation.
"If you go back to the early to mid-90s, we were consistently getting raises under the cost of living, but in the last few years we've been doing better," Cihon said. "The benefits package is relatively good; SU is generous with their compensation toward TIAA-CREF (The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund), and dependent tuition is certainly an attractive proposition."
Dr. Don Dutkowsky, director of graduate studies for the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs economics program, believes salary flexibility is a more powerful recruitment tool for Syracuse.
"Our natural starting place is behind where others are, but for an individual offer you can change it depending on how much you want that person," Dutkowsky said. "There's so much individual negotiation that goes on, you start at the mean but work upward to get someone or keep someone."
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