Illustration by Arnie Bermudez
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
The UA is in dire straits. Funds for faculty salaries have fallen far below the norm - $50 million behind the national average - and if history is any indication, the state Legislature will likely respond to the crisis by slashing funding further. Meanwhile, a hugely successful billion-dollar fundraising campaign - Campaign Arizona - has generated little money that can go to faculty salaries and another proposed tuition hike will probably find most of its revenues diverted into financial aid. We asked our columnists: What does the UA need to do now to keep top faculty members from heading to greener pastures?
Money talks better than political semantics
There's no doubt that President Peter Likins thinks faculty should be paid properly. But he and his administration need to do a better job illustrating that they care about faculty and are working to give them the money and research space they need and deserve.
Now, they have the chance to if they focus the remaining months of Campaign Arizona on raising money for salary increases.
A decision late last summer to boost the salaries of some of the highest paid suits on campus was politically disastrous. The move reflected a 21st century misunderstanding that the high paid CEO-esque folks with offices on the top floor are the ones holding everything together.
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Daniel Scarpinato
columnist
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Our faculty is the fuel that keeps the university engine running. Administrators are more like the motor oil (it helps if it's new and clean, but the car can still get around if it's a little dirty).
Last spring, student lobbyists supported a tuition increase that could have solved some of the faculty's woes. But instead of fighting aggressively to make sure the money went to help our faculty, lobbyists allowed the money to be poured into financial aid.
The research space issue appears as thought it's being taken seriously, but student leaders, campus media and university bureaucrats have, at least for now, failed to aggressively lobby for faculty dollars.
Quit the cheap talk and use the resources and momentum of Campaign Arizona to fight for faculty. Donors will respond.
Daniel Scarpinato is a journalism and political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
UA needs extensive state support to succeed
Despite the recent success of Campaign Arizona, most of its billion-dollar windfall will be allocated to the construction of more research space. However, in order to maintain a higher level of academic prominence, we need to retain our faculty. All the research space in the world cannot replace the loss of academic excellence that distinguished professors can bring to the classroom.
An option advocated by researchers suggests a redistribution of state funding. This option proposes that merit scholarships given to students whose parents can afford tuition be granted instead to needier students. With these redirected state funds the university will be able to use the portion of tuition aimed at financial aid to be directed to faculty salaries.
Though a good idea in theory, it penalizes hardworking, diligent students just because they happen to fall into a certain economic bracket. This proposal does not take into account debts and other financial concerns of the family.
What the UA must do is demand more state support. The Legislature should make the UA budget a top priority, whether by allocating more funds or raising taxes. Given the economic contribution that the university provides to the community, the university is entitled to such support. The UA is one of the largest employers in Tucson, rivaling Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Moreover, the contribution that the UA gives to local business is significant as well. The state of Arizona must realize that it cannot reap the benefits this university provides while neglecting it in its time of need.
Susan Bonicillo is a journalism sophomore. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
More tuition dollars must go to the faculty
As President Likins said in an October 2002 letter, in order to make the UA an excellent university, its aim must be to retain top-notch faculty. However, over the last year, the UA has lost some of its best faculty in programs like chemistry and hydrology.
To keep our faculty, we need to pay them better and give them additional benefits. The university should ask faculty what would keep them here - apart from good salaries. Administrators should hold a forum to which they invite faculty representatives from different colleges who can speak as to what benefits would keep them here.
As far as the salaries go: First, the university needs to set aside a larger percentage of tuition for faculty salaries. It is imperative that we keep our best faculty, because without them we lose our academic reputation. As our academic reputation gets worse and worse, our diplomas are worth less and less.
Another step that can be taken would be to ask the Alumni Association to encourage alumni to donate a larger portion of Campaign Arizona funds toward faculty retention. The Alumni Association should understand that the faculty is one of the essential parts of the university. It is true that construction on campus is also important, but if we are to prioritize, faculty retention should be number one.
Afshan Patel is a finance junior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Donors must redirect funding to faculty
It's rare that anyone finishes anything ahead of schedule, much less by 21 months. Yet that's just what the generous donors of Campaign Arizona accomplished when they hit their $1 billion goal last week. As this university aspires to be an even greater force in research, we definitely need more research space, and Campaign Arizona has gone a long way to get us where we need to be.
However, if the funding trend continues, we may run painfully short on faculty to fill not only the new space, but also every department's classrooms. And with 99 percent of Campaign Arizona money locked into donor-specified purposes, it's clear that Campaign Arizona is not the answer to our faculty retention woes.
But it could be.
Obviously, getting one's name on a building is a more tangible benefit to earmarking funds, but those donors who truly care about the UA's health should realize that a university cannot thrive on infrastructure alone. There must be substance in the form of a quality education. If the Alumni Plaza and state-of-the-art facilities are campus "gems," the faculty is the crown jewel.
Undoubtedly, Campaign Arizona is a fundraising tour-de-force. Now it just needs to re-prioritize. In these remaining months, donors need to free up their gifts so that the university, which can better judge where money needs to go, can direct it toward faculty retention. This must be the focus of any school that would rather be known for its brains than its beauty.
Sabrina Noble is a senior majoring in English and creative writing. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
Multi-pronged approach necessary
The challenge of attracting and retaining quality faculty can only be solved with a multi-pronged approach. Thanks to the Legislature, which is derelict in its duty to promote higher education in Arizona, the so-called "brain drain" has taken a severe toll on the UA. Nonetheless, while blame can be easily assigned to those who are responsible, a workable solution is not so simple.
Many donors to Campaign Arizona and other programs are hesitant to direct their contributions to faculty salaries and bonuses because our reactionary state Legislature is likely to cut state appropriations by the amount donated. Private donors need to be guaranteed that contributions to faculty salaries and bonuses will augment, and not replace state funding.
University lobbyists should ask the Legislature to match private donations that help to cure the brain drain. While this is unlikely to happen, it would open floodgates for private donations.
Tuition increases must be accompanied by guarantees for more financial aid, but smaller increases - which reduce the need for financial aid - and larger percentages of the increases dedicated to correcting the brain drain would also effectively bring more money to faculty recruitment and retention efforts.
Faculty must also unionize, and lobby the Legislature as a collective. The threat of faculty strikes or mass resignations might get the attention of the Legislature's mostly deaf ears.
Kendrick Wilson is a political science junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
Hats off to our loyal alumni
Congratulations to Campaign Arizona for making the $1 billion mark. I am proud to say that for a state school we have very loyal alumni, who made it possible to reach this goal.
It's important to remember this when we talk about where all this money is going to go. Most of these donations were made for a very specific purpose - and why wouldn't they be?
Most alumni feel an attachment to a particular department or place on campus and want to see that area thrive. When I am an alumnus I will probably do the same thing; not because I don't want the UA to be competitive (I'm the first person to say we need money to hold onto professors), but because I want to see the areas that I was involved with do well.
That was the purpose of Campaign Arizona - to collect money for various things around campus so other money can be directed elsewhere, like keeping the big name faculty.
It's unfair to hold our wonderful alumni responsible for fixing the university's financial problems. They should put their money where they feel it will help, not where we think it will. Any little bit counts and the very large "little bit" that Campaign Arizona was able to collect will help no matter where the money goes.
Jason Poreda is a political science and communication senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu
