Mirror - Vol. 37, No. 26 - May 02, 2012

              _THE EPWRROR
Week ofMay 2,2012 • Vol. 37, Iss 26 • Jfje Reflection ofFair field • Independent Student Newspaper of Fairfield University
Faculty battles broken promises
You might have seen some
professors with pins stuck
to their shirts. Here's why.
STORY BY LOAN LE
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
ART BY VIN FERRER
CARTOONIST
On April 27, full-time faculty members
of Fairfield University expressed their
dissatisfaction towards the 2012-13
salary and benefits proposed by administration.
Each year, the faculty negoti-ates
the terms oftheir contract with
the administration. To finalize their
contracts, both teams agree to a
Memo of Understanding (MOU), a
statement that outlines the faculty
members' salary and benefits.
While they have a MOU for the
school year 2011-12, the Faculty Sal-ary
Committee (FSC), which engages
in talks about total compensation is-sues,
could not negotiate a MOU for
2012-13 with administration.
Faculty members proposed at
last Friday's meeting that they disagree
with the administration's language in
their statement of agreement and that
they want FSC to continue working
towards a compensation beneficial
for the faculty. The facultyvoted 185 in
favor of the two motions.
No objections were made.
Irene Mulvey, professor of math-ematics
and secretary of the General
Faculty, said of this result: "I cannot
remember a vote like that in my 27
years at Fairfield. This is an unprec-edented
show of faculty unity behind
protecting the reputation and quality
of Fairfield."
18-YEAR AGREEMENT BROKEN
Collegial discussions between
the faculty and the administration
began in October 2011 and were sup-posed
to end in this March; however,
they have only resulted in frustration
and disagreement
According to the MOU of the
school year 2011-12, the administra-tion
promised to maintain the fac-ulty's
compensation rank at the 95th
percentile.
Established in 1994, this high
compensation is indicative of eco-nomic
security, a means to protect
the faculty members working in one
of the most expensive towns in the
county. "It is an agreement that the
University will keep faculty compen-sation
at or above an external bench-mark,"
Mulvey said. "The benchmark
is the standard of our profession since
it compares our compensation with
other schools in our category."
However, when the Faculty Sal-ary
Committee met with the admin-istration
in February, "the administra-tion
announced its intent to abandon
this commitment to the 95th percen-tile
which is incredibly important to
faculty," said Mulvey.
Rick DeWitt, current president
of Fairfield University's Faculty Wel-fare
Committee (FWC)/AAUP, wrote
in a March 2012 newsletter, "The 95th
percentile is sacred to the faculty, and
if President insists on pushing this, the
situation at Fairfield may get ugly and
public at a time when we are trying to
recruit a class we are not sure we can
get"
Mulvey and her colleagues rec-ognize
that the decreased salaries and
budget will have a "negative impact
on the faculty we can hire which will
have a terrible effect on the education
we offer."
The FWC's Action Committee
encourages faculty members to re-spond
to administration's decision
not to continue to engage in "collegial
discussions" with the FSC, according
to Jocelyn Boryczka who is co-chair of
FacultyWelfareAction Committee and
the incoming president of the Faculty
Welfare Committee for 2012-13.
In September 2009, the faculty
agreed to compromise with the ad-ministration
by giving up benefit
protections in their health coverage,
retirement benefits, and more.
They were assured by the admin-istration
that they would maintain the
95th percentile.
3F @MirrorFairfield
In 2010, President Jeffrey von
Arx, S.J. addressed members in a Gen-eral
Faculty meeting. He said: "The
fact that we have been steadfast in our
commitment to keep faculty compen-sation
at or above the 95th percen-tile
of the Carnegie IIA schools is the
strongest illustration of our support
for the faculty."
However, this support, according
to many faculty members, is no longer
being shown.
"It is our position that the dis-cussions
have not been transparent
and timely and that there has been
a marked unwillingness to coopera-tively
arrive at compromises," stated
Joseph Dennin, who is a professor of
mathematics and chair of FSC.
The administrative team respon-sible
for these discussions consists of
Vice President for Finance Julie Dolan,
Senior Vice President for Academic
Affairs Fr. Paul Fitzgerald, S.J., and
Director of Human Resources Mark
Guglielmoni.
They've met with the FSC ap-proximately
14 times this academic
year, according to Dolan.
ADMINISTRATION
Dolan reasserted the financial
difficulties that the University had
encountered and stated the admin-istration's
commitment to rectify the
problems.
"We are trying to control costs
fairfieldmirror.com
Benchmark not reached: The Uni-versity
is supposed to keep the salary
and benefits of the faculty at or above
the 95th percentile. This benchmark
compares Fairfield compensation with
that of other similar institutions that
support postbaccalaureate programs.
as much as possible and, at the same
time, are trying to keep our tuition
increases as low as possible," stated
Dolan in an email. "We recognize
that, ultimately, it is our students
and their families who are paying
for the wonderful education that our
students are receiving. We owe it to
them to make sure we continue to de-liver
that high quality education and
services and to make that education
affordable."
The current administration
proposal includes a decrease in the
University's contribution to retire-ment
from 10 percent to 8 percent,
a decrease in the amount of Life In-surance
coverage, and a 1 percent in-crease
in salary.
"The Administration remains
committed to compensating the fac-ulty
well, both this coming year and
into the future," said Dolan.
The approval of the MOU must
come before the approval of the bud-get
by the Board of Trustees.
THE FUTURE
Boryczka, Dennin, and other
faculty members remain steadfast in
their efforts to reach an agreement
with administration.
"Fairfield University's mission
is grounded in social justice, which
cannot be achieved when the door to
continued discussions is closed," said
Boryczka. "Faculty want that door
opened. Wewant to protect the qual-ity
education that Fairfield students
receive and to recruit and retain the
faculty who provide it"
Others hope that they will reach
an agreement for the sake of main-taining
the academic integrity at Fair-field.
Peter Bayers, English professor
and a member of the FWC Action
Committee, said: "I have always been
proud of Fairfield University and
proud to be a faculty member here.
This pride is at risk."
Bayers believe that by disregard-ing
the needs of professors who come
to teach at the University, adminis-tration
also sacrifices the University's
status as a highly rated academic in-stitution.
"The proposed change in the
University's commitment to the 95th
percentile and its proposed cuts to
faculty compensation will have rever-berations
for years to come, reverber-ations
that will diminish Fairfield's
academic reputation," Bayers said.
He also notes that some are
ready to go and find other places for
their academic employment, if a sat-isfactoryMOU
cannot be met
Bayers noted: "[T]he proposed
changes are already having their ef-fect—
it makes me terribly sad to say
that I know dedicated faculty, includ-ing
myself, who are already preparing
to investigate teaching opportuni-ties
elsewhere should the University
maintain its position."
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