They are at it again......
Last month I posted an article (see here) about a vote of "no confidence" that a university president received from the faculty. There were many reasons for this, but the one that stood out was a $25,000 raise the president received while the rest of the university was going through budget cuts.
Well, another president is coming under fire, this time at Idaho State University. Upset with the manner in which administrators received a sweeping pay raise, professors adopted a memo Wednesday calling on ISU President Richard Bowen to remedy the escalating situation. Here are a few things that stuck out in the article:
1) All 36 ISU administrators received raises totaling about $350,000 this past year. Some quick math will tell you this is almost $10,000 per administrator! That's a pretty nice raise when the faculty claim they've only seen minimal raises in recent years and have been misled about the availability of institutional funds.
2) The university president is out of town until later this month. OK, I must plead ignorance in that I really don't know what this president's job description is. But it's the start of the school year, and the president isn't on campus for at least the next couple of weeks?
3) The Vice President of Academic Affairs described himself as "between a rock and a hard place." I most certainly can understand how this person is torn between his work with the president and with the 600 or so faculty on campus. Tough situation to be in for sure.
And so where has all this left the faculty? A biology professor says "I think whatever shred of trust was left between administrators and faculty was violated." Certainly an understatement given the circumstances.
From a servant-leadership perspective, it sounds like the faculty are going about this the right way: drafting a memo, using strong language to express their frustration, and wanting to meet with the president. When we feel we have been wronged by those who we work for, we need to first think through our options and not let our emotions get the best of us.
The worst thing to do in this situation is to metaphorically "burn the house down." Demanding a resignation, which I'm sure is what many would like to see happen, will not do any good as the faculty do not have the power to remove the president; furthermore, it will only escalate the tension between the president and faculty at this point.
The prudent path is to communicate their displeasure and to attempt to open up the lines of communication, which is what was done here. The ball is now in the president's court. It will be interesting to see how he returns volley.
Well, another president is coming under fire, this time at Idaho State University. Upset with the manner in which administrators received a sweeping pay raise, professors adopted a memo Wednesday calling on ISU President Richard Bowen to remedy the escalating situation. Here are a few things that stuck out in the article:
1) All 36 ISU administrators received raises totaling about $350,000 this past year. Some quick math will tell you this is almost $10,000 per administrator! That's a pretty nice raise when the faculty claim they've only seen minimal raises in recent years and have been misled about the availability of institutional funds.
2) The university president is out of town until later this month. OK, I must plead ignorance in that I really don't know what this president's job description is. But it's the start of the school year, and the president isn't on campus for at least the next couple of weeks?
3) The Vice President of Academic Affairs described himself as "between a rock and a hard place." I most certainly can understand how this person is torn between his work with the president and with the 600 or so faculty on campus. Tough situation to be in for sure.
And so where has all this left the faculty? A biology professor says "I think whatever shred of trust was left between administrators and faculty was violated." Certainly an understatement given the circumstances.
From a servant-leadership perspective, it sounds like the faculty are going about this the right way: drafting a memo, using strong language to express their frustration, and wanting to meet with the president. When we feel we have been wronged by those who we work for, we need to first think through our options and not let our emotions get the best of us.
The worst thing to do in this situation is to metaphorically "burn the house down." Demanding a resignation, which I'm sure is what many would like to see happen, will not do any good as the faculty do not have the power to remove the president; furthermore, it will only escalate the tension between the president and faculty at this point.
The prudent path is to communicate their displeasure and to attempt to open up the lines of communication, which is what was done here. The ball is now in the president's court. It will be interesting to see how he returns volley.
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