PROPOSITION B AN ISSUE FACING FACULTY SENATE

Southeast Missouri State University's Faculty Senate will be pushing for passage of Proposition B, the tax-hike and education-reform package that will be submitted to Missouri voters in November.

"Obviously, we're going to be real concerned with passage of Proposition B," said Allen Gathman, the new chairman of Faculty Senate.

The Faculty Senate is scheduled to hold its first meeting of the fall semester at 3 p.m. today in the University Center.

The tax measure would provide $190 million for higher education and an equal amount for elementary and secondary education.

To Southeast, passage of the tax measure would mean increased funding that could be used for new programs and salary increases for faculty and staff.

"Certainly, without Proposition B I don't think there is any prospect of a salary increase," said Gathman.

He said the tax measure would also provide needed funding for equipment purchases and building maintenance.

"We have a great lack of equipment," said Gathman. "We have suspended equipment purchases for two years running" because of budget cuts. "There is a lot of maintenance that hasn't been done on the buildings," he said.

Passage of Proposition B would also mean more money for student scholarships, said Gathman.

In all, the university could receive $7 to $9 million annually in Proposition B funding, university officials have said.

About $1.9 million was cut out of Southeast's budget this year. As a result, university employees received no general pay raises.

Gathman said the lack of pay raises has affected faculty morale. "I think people's morale is low right now because there is no pay raise this year," said Gathman.

"Over the past six years, we've had pay increases that have been less than the increase in the Consumer Price Index. What that really means is that in terms of buying power we have lost money every year.

"So that obviously affects morale. I think it affects the degree that they (faculty) trust the administration or Board of Regents," said Gathman.

"You get repeated promises, `We have your interests in mind and we're going to do everything possible to get you a decent salary increase,' but then you don't see it materialize," he said.

Against this backdrop, a new faculty and staff newsletter, The Grapevine, appeared on campus this summer.

The privately funded newsletter was published anonymously. No faculty members have publicly taken credit for the newsletter, which took a critical view of the university administration.

Gathman said he didn't know who authored the newsletter but the budget cuts and lack of a general pay raise probably provided an impetus for its creation.

"A lot of the things in The Grapevine struck me as fairly cynical about the prospects for getting improvement in the university.

"I personally don't agree with that feeling, but I know that there are a number of faculty members who are very discouraged," said Gathman.

The Faculty Senate chairman said he believes university President Kala Stroup, who has held the post for little more than a year, has a good understanding of what the faculty wants.

"I really feel that she thinks and feels as the faculty do in many ways," he said. "I think there has been some change already in terms of openness ... on campus," said Gathman.

For example, he pointed out, very detailed budget figures have been made available for the first time to faculty representatives and other members of the university's Budget Committee.

"Dr. Stroup has been very supportive of requests from faculty on the Budget Committee to see the figures," he said. "People who are really cynical are not giving Dr. Stroup a chance. I'm personally quite optimistic," he said.

Gathman said faculty members are concerned about having adequate funding for university operations in total, not just for better salaries.

"If salary were the only motivator for us, we wouldn't be at the university," said Gathman. "We would be doing something else for a living."

Over the summer, the regents and the Faculty Senate tackled the issue of merit pay. The regents gave their support to an amended merit pay plan for faculty, which excludes an across-the-board pay raise that was a central part of the plan as originally drafted by the Faculty Senate and backed by the administration.

The Faculty Senate subsequently urged the regents to commit to providing a 3 percent general pay raise or a raise equal to the increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is greater, as an annual pre-condition for faculty merit pay.

The regents stopped short of endorsing the Senate's proposal, but agreed that general pay raises should take first priority.

Gathman said faculty members want some assurance of at least a cost-of-living increase.

He said the merit pay issue showed that the Board of Regents is no longer given automatic approval to recommendations from the university administration. "They seem to be signaling that they are going to be taking a more active role in policy."

Gathman said the university "is in a very healthy state right now in terms of openness and the amount of active discussion that is going on between various groups."

He said, "I think we are really seeing some important changes in the way the institution works."