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Likins, faculty say university needs higher salaries

UA officials said yesterday they support a modest tuition increase in response to UA President Peter Likins statement Thursday that faculty are leaving because of the inability to provide competitive salaries.

In his State of the University address, Likins said the University of Arizona's relatively low tuition creates a need for increased private donations and state funding.

The University of Arizona needs to make a 40 percent increase in salaries to remain competitive, he said.

Likins said last year 105 "key faculty" members received more lucrative offers at other universities and the UA lost 74 of those faculty.

"When we compare faculty salaries with our competitors, we see serious trouble," said Likins in his speech to the President's Club.

Likins attributed the UA's financial problems to deficiencies in state funding, stemming from state legislators' lackadaisical attitude toward higher education.

"We haven't yet persuaded the state Legislature that higher education is a good investment in the future of the state of Arizona," Likins said in the speech.

In response to the problem, the UA has created the new Gift Campaign, which could potentially bring millions of dollars to the university from private donations.

Likins said the campaign could be a solution for the future but the UA is currently moving toward a time when it can't afford the faculty it has.

Faculty Chairman Jerrold Hogle agreed that the UA lacks the funds to pay its top faculty.

"We're taking money from vacant lines (unfilled teaching positions) to shore up funds to pay the new faculty we have," Hogle said.

Hogle offered some possible solutions for receiving stronger legislative support, such as the continuation of the Gift Campaign and a modest tuition increase.

The possibility of a tuition increase prompted Arizona State University students to protest outside the September Arizona Board of Regents meeting in Tempe.

Associated Students President Cisco Aguilar said the earliest tuition rates would be on the board's agenda at the April meeting.

While many students would be firmly against any hikes in tuition, ASUA "does understand tuition has to increase with the increases in inflation," Aguilar said.

But Carol Bernstein, president of the UA chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said she has reservations about Likins' statements about the UA's financial troubles.

"They gave me that story for a number of years," Bernstein said.

She said state allocations have increased dramatically compared to the amount of money funneled into faculty salaries.

"The money is there but we are losing faculty. They're using all that (state) money to pay back bonds for construction," Bernstein said.

Likins said yesterday that no state money was going to fund the current construction projects on the UA Mall and the Memorial Student Union.

"That's nonsense, that money can't be used for any construction," he said.

At the end of his address, Likins continued to stress that the UA is in a competitive marketplace and must make changes to be able to stay with the pack.

"If all our constituencies really understood that key fact, our problems would be more readily solved," Likins said in his address.