UNIVERSITY PAY HELPS GET TOP EDUCATORS

Southeast Missouri State University has worked to make its salaries more competitive. These salaries are being used to attract some of the finest educators in the nation to the Cape Girardeau campus.

The university has raised faculty salaries to the point that the average salary for instructors and assistant and associate professors is at the median level for comparable schools nationwide. Only the full-professor rank still lags behind, but the gap is less than $900. Higher salaries not only attract talented people, but they help keep them aboard.

For many area residents, average salaries in the $40,000 to $50,000 range is far beyond reach. While the salaries must remain competitive, it is also good to see that the university has implemented a system of merit pay. Increases aren't handed out simply because people have stayed another year. Merit pay increases must be earned, and that's the way it should be.

As it has worked to boost professional salaries, so has the university raised the pay of clerical staff and others. A few years ago, clerical salaries of $12,000 weren't uncommon. Today, the average clerical salary is approaching $18,000.

But while most goals have been reached in boosting average salaries, the university still needs to address lower pay for women and minorities. Average pay comparisons starkly reveal the shortfalls:

* 417 female employees (45.5 percent of total employment) earn $29,530 on average

* 500 male employees (54.5 percent of total employment) earn $40,920

* 859 white employees (93.7 percent of total employment) earn $35,880 on average

* 57 black employees (6.2 percent of total employment) earn $29,932

Southeast's reasoning is that higher pay is based on years of service and job experience, rather than gender or race bias. But are people paid on the basis of longevity rather than productivity? The university should study the role longevity plays in payroll patterns and whether that is right or wrong.

Southeast is also striving to make its student, faculty and staff base more diverse. It has established a Commission on Minority Affairs to help achieve that goal. The university has made some progress in recent years. For example, three of the eight deans are black.

But the issue of female salaries also needs to be addressed separately. These large gaps in male and female salaries should be corrected.

It is important the university continue to strive for competitive salaries as it bids for top-quality candidates from the national job markets. Competitive salaries regardless of gender or race -- combined with merit pay increases -- should forge a winning combination of quality staff and high morale at Southeast.