[Vision2020] You Owe Us Five More Years, President White (and Nellis)

[Nicholas Gier]

Dear Visionaries:

The column below that I wrote about White's departure is relevant for
Nellis' long ride to Texas.  I got a lot of criticism for saying that White
should stay, but I think Nellis was better regarded than White, who is now
the President of the Cal State system.


Nick

*
*

*DEAR PRESIDENT WHITE (Now Nellis):*

*YOU OWE US AT LEAST ANOTHER FIVE YEARS*

By Nick Gier


President, Higher Education Council

Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO.



          Since 1986, the tenure of an American university president has
increased from an average of 6.3 years to 8.5 years.  By contrast, the
terms of office of University of Idaho (UI) presidents are becoming
shorter, and in the case of Tim White, alarmingly so.

          Presidents Ernest Hartung and Richard Gibb remained in office 12
years, while Elizabeth Zinser and Robert Hoover were on campus for seven
years.  White is now leaving us after four years to take a position at UC
Riverside.

          The average tenure calculation obscures high turnover rates on
other campuses. Eastern Michigan State has had four presidents in six
years; Sierra Nevada College has had four presidents in 10 years; and
Florida A&M has had two presidents in seven years.  Over 11 years at Texas
Tech there have been two chancellors and three presidents.

White's $286,187 salary is 392 percent higher than Gibb's, and he will be
making $325,000 at his new job. When Hartung was president, he made three
times that of new assistant professors, but White's salary has risen to
seven times that of new faculty. Adjusted for inflation, average university
presidential pay has risen 35 percent from 1996-2006, while faculty
salaries increased only five percent during the same period.

          The tenure for academic deans is growing even shorter.  Studies
reported in the *Chronicle of Higher Education* indicate an average of
three to five years.  The most recent UI science and liberal arts deans
each lasted only three years.

These outside deans come with automatic tenure and negotiated step-down
agreements with a mere 15 percent reduction in salary.  These huge salaries
burden departmental budgets, and they also skew salary calculations for
determining how far departments are behind their peers.

The new deans of science and liberal arts are not only competent but know
the UI well and have deep roots in the community.  Studies show that the
best CEOs are those who work their way up within their companies, so why
doesn't the UI choose capable administrators already on campus to lead the
university?

          When the faculty union complained about exploding dean salaries
and costly searches, UI Provost Doug Baker acknowledged that it was, in
contrast to faculty, a very competitive market with very high turnover.
Since 1982, UI dean's salaries have risen 240 percent while full professor
pay has gone up 187 percent.  The Consumer Price Index for the same period
is 210.

          The departure of a university president, especially so soon after
he has been hired, disrupts the lives of faculty and staff as they are
forced to adjust to an interim administration.  The vast sums of money that
are paid to "head hunters" and on interviews mean less money for academics
and campus maintenance.  New presidents spend lots of time "learning the
ropes," and they sometimes bring in new management teams that further
disturb the efficient running of the university.

          To his credit White has made sure, sometimes by robbing other
budgets, that faculty have received some decent salary increases. We are
still, however, at the bottom of our peer group because its professors have
also received similar raises.

I have no means to counter White's claims of a much improved financial
situation for the UI, so we have to take White at his word.  I can say,
however, that White's announcement that 67 new positions were added in
2007-2008 was very misleading.  The UI's own figures show a net increase of
only 15 positions.

Out of all the UI presidents that I've known, I can say that I had the best
personal relationship with Tim White.  He has excellent interpersonal
skills and he is the best listener of any administrator with whom I've had
dealings.  Once he excused himself from a very important meeting to meet
with me about retaliation against a staff member.

After 40 years of handling grievances for the faculty union, my main
complaint is that the UI does a very poor job of personnel management.  The
UI could have avoided some of the legal cases we won by simply following
its own procedures and offering better personnel training for its deans and
department chairs.

I do hope that the next UI president is more attentive to these personnel
matters. I also propose that the contract of any external candidate hired
will contain a clause requiring 10 years of service.  Such a clause might
not be necessary if an inside candidate—I can think of several outstanding
choices—is hired.
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