Boston University professors are working patiently through budget cuts, the announcement of a future salary freeze and an unfortunate fall in the university’s endowment.
But Faculty Council chairman Bill Skocpol said they will not be patient forever.
There is audible ‘disgruntlement’ among professors at the announced salary freeze, but no known threats of resignation, according Skocpol, a BU physics professor.
‘These sorts of things happen,’ he said. ‘The longer it lasts and the harder the freeze, the more restless the faculty gets. Given the economy, there’s been some willingness to be patient – but patience eventually wears out.’
Much of that willingness stems from the desire to preserve the jobs of staff and faculty members and an understanding of the rough economic times being faced by many universities, he said.
‘It’s hard to keep track of all these little pieces of money when the pie is so big,’ Skocpol said. ‘Forgoing a pay raise to save other’s jobs is a sacrifice some are willing to make for a period of time.’
Professor Robert Zelnick, head of the Journalism department in the College of Communication, agreed, noting that most professors are willing to look at the big picture in times of economic trouble, as long as there is a sense of fairness.
‘It is a band-aid – I don’t think anyone denies that,’ Zelnick said. ‘Maybe it’s a tourniquet. [Salary] is an obvious place to look in an emergency. I’d rather take that than cutting staff or cutting courses or packing the place with students who shouldn’t be here.’
He also said the administration needs to be perceived as doing its best, and that when times are better, the administration must ‘remember that the faculty is the backbone of this institution’ in return for its cooperation.
In response to orders from administration to faculty to ‘be as efficient and productive as possible,’ Zelnick said he is more concerned that management ‘from the bottom up understand that there are many definitions of productivity on a faculty and the most important is the relationship with students, and we need to keep that in mind.’
Skocpol said faculty members have been understanding, but future behavior will depend on future treatment.
‘The overall point is people are patient for a while when they understand the reasons and feel the sacrifices are being shared equally,’ Skocpol said. ‘We’ve been waiting to see how things play out. At some point our wait and see attitude may change.’
In an attempt to keep BU’s budget at equilibrium by decreasing spending, administrators reported in September that BU would cut as many as 450 jobs, but announced Jan. 21 that they would instead use salary freezes to cut spending in next year’s budget.
The budget for the 2002-2003 fiscal year was approximately $1.4 billion.
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