Salaries for CUNY faculty have not kept up with past salaries. In an earlier report, I reviewed data showing that salaries at Queens College had fallen 13% behind St Johns, Adelphi, and Hofstra, and 33% behind Columbia and NYU.

One of the major problems confronting CUNY colleges is how to pay the faculty more. There are several ways in the contract to pay faculty more and these are coming to be used increasingly at some campuses. However, one standard way of rewarding faculty is not being fully used.

When a faculty member is favorably evaluated for promotion, a campus may reward the candidate by increasing his or her salary by one or more steps. Many faculty believe this is what usually happens. In fact, this practice is not followed on all campuses. An examination of what has happened from January 2005 to February 2008 reveals that the proportion of faculty who receive a step increase at the time of promotion varies from 98% to 0%, depending on the campus (see Table 1 below).

Queens College is at the low end of this scale; for the period indicated, only 9% of faculty was considered deserving enough to receive a step increase at the time of promotion. The comparable percentages for Hunter, New York City Tech, Kingsborough, John Jay, Lehman, Staten Island, Brooklyn and City were 98%, 98%, 97%, 96%, 92%, 88%, and 80%.

It should be emphasized that the current Queens College policy is not new. Most faculty members who were in administrative positions in previous administrations have indicated that the practice had been to give no step increases at promotion. The current administration, which is doing such a good job on so many other fronts, has simply continued a policy from the past. But Queens College has fallen badly out of step with most other CUNY colleges. This is something that now needs to be reviewed.

Dean Savage,

Chair, University Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of the Faculty Chair, Queens College Academic Senate Professor, Department of Sociology March 5, 2008

Table 1

Proportion of Faculty Who Received a Step Increase at Time of Promotion

January 2005-February 2008,

by Campus

Year

College                2005                 2006                 2007                2008*               Totals         % Receive

                                                                                                                                        Step Increase

                               (# getting               (# getting               (# getting               (# getting               (# getting

                       step increase/       step increase/       step increase/       step increase/       step increase/

                          # promoted)          # promoted)          # promoted)          # promoted)          # promoted)

Hunter                   31/33                30/30                20/20                      --                81/83                  98%

NYC Tech             28/28                      --                11/11                    5/6                44/45                  98%

KBCC                     9/10                12/12                    8/8                      --                29/30                  97%

John Jay                  7/7                11/12                15/16                16/16                49/51                  96%

Lehman                 10/10                      --                14/15                      --                24/25                  96%

CSI                       15/15                12/13                20/22                    1/1                47/51                  92%

Brooklyn               21/22                    7/9                17/18                21/26                66/75                  88%

Grad Center              1/1                    2/2                    2/2                    0/1                    5/6                  83%

City                      13/18                23/23                11/22                18/18                65/81                  80%

CUNY Law                0/1                    5/5                    0/1                      --                   5 /7                  71%

Baruch                  10/20                  9/11                      --                  5/13                24/42                  59%

York                         4/9                    1/3                    2/7                      --                  7/19                  37%

Medgar Evers         2/11                    0/1                    4/7                    1/1                  7/20                  35%

QBCC                      3/9                    1/5                  2/11                      --                  7/25                  28%

LAGCC                     0/6                  0/12                  7/16                      --                  7/34                  21%

Bronx CC                2/21                  3/12                    1/3                      --                  6/36                  17%

Queens                  0/14                  4/23                  0/16                      --                  4/53                    9%

BMCC                    1/13                    0/4                  1/12                      --                  2/29                   7%

Hostoc CC               0/4                    0/2                    0/3                      --                    0/9                   0%

Totals                157/252             120/159             135/200                67/79             479/690                  69%

 ‘Promoted faculty’ include promotions from Assistant to Associate and from Associate to Full Professor.  Faculty are considered to have received a step increase if their new salary is more than $2,000 higher than the previous salary.  Other faculty are considered to have moved horizontally to the closest rung on the ladder for the new rank; this will result either in no change in salary or a small salary increase.  Data are from The Chancellor’s Report and University Report and Addenda for 2005, 2006, 2007, and January and February 2008, available online at www.cuny.edu after logging on through the CUNY Portal. Faculty are classified according to the month and year in which the Chancellor’s University Report or Addendum reports the promotion.    

*Data for 2008 include reports for January and February of 2008, the only ones available so far.

******************************************************************

To: College Presidents

Dean of CUNY Law School

Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism Dean of the School of Professional Studies Dean of the William E. Macaulay Honors College

From: Gloriana B. Waters, Vice Chancellor

Date: May 26, 2009

Subject: Hiring Pause Rule

I write to remind you of the rules pertaining to hiring and discretionary salary increases during the hiring pause, which has been in place since August 11, 2008. The purpose of the pause is to control our spending, generate savings, and reduce headcount. In managing the hiring pause on your campuses, please keep in mind the following:

* Colleges may continue to hire faculty and employees providing direct student services (e.g., counselors and. CI-Ts) following regular procedures.

* Recruitment for all other positions must be deferred at this time.

In rare cases, Presidents may approve an exception to the pause when the position is critical to the operation of the college.

* All discretionary salary increases for both classified and instructional staff must be deferred. This includes early step movement within the salary schedule, early movement to the five- and seven- year steps, and salary-above-base requests for incumbent instructional staff.

Unfortunately, these measures continue to be necessary in the current fiscal situation. I appreciate your efforts in administering the hiring pause over the past academic year. Please call me if you have any questions.

C: Chancellor Matthew Goldstein

Vice Chancellor Ernesto Malave

Cabinet

Human Resources Directors

Administrative Council