Administrative salary increases overdue, he says

President Peter Likins was unapologetic at the Faculty Senate meeting yesterday as he defended his decision to raise the salaries of top administrators while other employees received pink slips due to budget cuts.

"There's an unfairness to any effort to cut budgets to save the interests of the institution," he said when asked why the burden was not equally shared at all levels of the administration.

He asked whether a better solution would be to cut all UA salaries.

"That's not good for morale, either," he said.

Last month, the Arizona Board of Regents approved Likins' request for an overall salary increase of 6.5 percent for the top 12 UA administrators, to take effect this month.

The decision to raise salaries was the direct result of information generated by the regents showing that UA administrator salaries were far below their ASU counterparts, Likins said.

In the spring, the Board of Regents asked all the state university presidents to submit compensation information about their vice presidents, he said.

The regents then compared the UA and ASU to each other and to 28 other peer institutions.

"The data, I have to say, was shocking," Likins said. "They saw a great disparity in our executive compensation."

Since coming to the UA six years ago, Likins increased compensation by whatever amount the state gave him to do so, usually along the lines of 2 percent and 4 percent.

ASU, on the other hand, had managed to dramatically increase executive compensation during that time period, he said.

The board decided that administrator salaries were reasonable if they fell between the 90th and 100th percentiles when compared to the peer institutions, he said.

"Our salaries were systematically below the 90th percentile. ASU's were systematically above the 110th percentile," Likins said, adding that the UA salaries remain dramatically lower than ASU's despite the recent increases.

He said he realizes it's not fair to the rest of the university.

"We must, this year and every year, set aside some money for salary increases," he said.

He has set aside $4 million from the state this year for such increases, but he acknowledged that $4 million is not much compared to the entire UA payroll.

Of that money, $2.6 million has yet to be allocated.

Another $250,000 is being used for equity, and $550,000 has been sent to the Provost to deal with retention issues.

Another chunk has gone toward raising the salaries of the nursing faculty, he said.

In other business:

· The faculty debated over the wording of the new interim policy on threatening student behavior.

· Applications for Lerner Center Educational Grant money are due by Sept. 22, said Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee chair Jerry Hogle. Thanks to Proposition 301 funds, there is about $500,000 available for department heads to request, he said.

· Faculty Senate chair Jory Hancock announced the need for reorganization committees to handle the schools of Humanities and Planning, both of which are slated for elimination under Focused Excellence.