Oregon daily emerald., May 05, 1983, Page 3, Image 3

Educators: regents proposal ‘strange’
By Sandy Johnstone
Of the Emerald
A proposal in the Oregon Legislature
to change the governance of the
state's education to a Board of
Regents system has little in common
with other states' organizational
methods, say board administrators in
several states.
The plan is “very strange,” says T.K.
Olson, executive director of Oregon’s
Educational Coordinating Commis
sion.
The proposal would set up a
statewide Board of Regents that would
submit a budget for all education to
the Legislature. It also would coor
dinate education in the state and make
some policy decisions.
The Board of Regents would oversee
a State Board of Higher Education, a
Board of Education and a Board of
Community Colleges.
Several other states with Board of
Regents have significantly different
systems.
In New York, a 16-member Board of
Regents, elected every seven years,
proposes a master plan to the governor
every four years and accredits schools
to “ensure minimums,” says
Christopher Carpenter, assistant direc
tor of public information for the board.
Individual schools formulate their
own policies. Carpenter says.
Michigan’s Board of Education
mainly coordinates the state’s educa
tion. However, the board has no gover
ning power over higher education in
stitutions that grant bachelor's
degrees.
Lad Dombrowski, the board’s
secretary, says the statutory power
and the actual power of the board
differ.
"We are not a governing board, but a
planning coordinator," he says. Each
institution has its own governing
board, Dombrowski says.
Idaho’s eight-member Board of
Education is the single governing
board for the state and is responsible
for policy and budgetary decisions,
says board secretary Kay Jensen.
An independent task force has been
studying the issue of governance in
Idaho and should be releasing recom
mendations for improvement soon,
she says.
None of the states have lower
boards as the Oregon proposal
suggests.
The boards from all of these states
deal with fiscal concerns differently
than Oregon’s proposed board would.
In New York and Michigan, each
university submits its own budget.
In New York, money for higher
education goes directly to the institu
tion after it has been appropriated.
‘‘We don’t have the kind of
budgetary authority Oregon does,"
Carpenter says.
Right now, Idaho’s board is worried
about getting money, not the process.
Recently Idaho’s governor vetoed the
education appropriation and a May 9
special session is scheduled to deal
with the problems, Jensen says.
"There just isn’t enough money,”
she says.
Michigan is having the same prob
lem with tight purse strings and
decreasing revenue.
"Support has been dropping the last
several years for education,” Dom
browski says. “The major problem is
we have been in a severe recession for
a number of years.”
He says the social programs in the
state have been built up to cope with
those problems and education has suf
fered as a consequence.
Because the Legislature controls
the purse, Dombrowski says they are
“emerging as the strongest policy
making body."
Loyalty good only so long
University profs underpaid, report says
By Frank Shaw
Ot th* Emerald
A recent report shows the salaries of professors
who have left the University is 34 percent higher than
what they would be earning if they had stayed at the
University.
Prepared by community service and public af
fairs majors Steve Earl and Ronald Gartshore, the
34-page report surveys faculty who have left the
University in the last two years. Comparisons are
then made between current salaries and projected
University salaries.
Another section of the report tabulated reasons
the professors left.
Seventy-four percent of the professors surveyed
left due to a lack of income potential, and 66 percent
left because of lack of professional development.
Only 7 percent listed the friendliness of their new
community as a reason for leaving and 4 percent
cited the cost of housing as a reason for leaving.
"The salary comparison data analyzed in this
study suggest that University of Oregon salaries are
deficient," the report says. “Our survey results in
dicate that the main reasons departed faculty left the
University were inadequate salary and limited in
come potential.”
The report uses a 1975 Carnegie Foundation
Study which ranked universities by quality group on
a scale of one to seven, with one the best and seven
the worst.
The University is ranked as a quality two institu
tion, but its pay scale is below the group averages,
with an even larger salary discrepancy between the
University and fellow Association of American
Universities members.
The report’s conclusion states that if the Univer
sity is a high prestige institution, faculty salaries are
below par.
“The question is whether Oregon is willing to
pay the cost of being exceptional," the report
concludes.
“I’m not that surprised," Provost Dick Hill says
about the report. “It reflects what we have known
about the relative salaries of faculty (as compared to
other universities). It’s a problem.”
Another facet of the report worries Aaron
Novick, head of the biology department.
While “loyalty to each other” keeps faculty here,
the loyalty does not apply to hiring new professors,
Novick says.
“There’s an enormous advantage in having col
leagues you respect,” he says, adding that faculty
who have been here for years are often willing to
work for less.
Novick cites an example of a faculty member
getting an offer to go to Princeton and turning !t
down, but “I don’t know how long that will keep up.”
And as faculty get older and retire, Novick wor
ries about being able to replace them with equally
qualified people.
“There's no queston but that we’re at a substan
tial disadvantage in terms of faculty salaries," says
Bob Berdahl, dean of the arts and sciences college.
“Our quality is far greater than the level of fun
ding would indicate,” he says.
Berdahl also says professors stay for reasons
other than money.
‘Good will, granola and jogging paths will not be
enough to keep professors here,” responds Glen
Love, president of the University chapter of the
American Association of University Professors.
“We’re losing good people.”
Professors are “voting with their feet" in leaving
the University, even though the study shows it is
clear they did not want to leave, Love says.
ZPiOiluctionfr @\e4enfo
and iftilfi welcomes
RAY CHARLES
May 22 • 8 p.m.
The Raelettes
and the
Ray Charles Orchestra
Only Oregon Appearance
Hult Center Silva Concert Hall
Tickets available at the usual Hult outlets
Tickets: Reserved seating $15.25 in Pit or Box.
$ 12.75 & $ 11.00 General Admission
Well, this is what you are voting on.
Have you heard
about the
Bookstore Elections?
Three Ballots
★ Vote for the candidates running for the Board of
Directors
★ Vote on Ballot “A”
The Major Points are:
(1) To update obsolete sections.
(2) To mandate at least one teaching faculty to fill one of two
faculty board positions.
(3) To allow more flexibility in method of notifying members
of the Annual Meeting and when the Annual Meeting can
be held.
★ Vote on Ballot “B”
Student Board Member’s Stipend
$20.00 per meeting or a maximum of $180.00 per year
For full text of the proposed Bylaw changes - see display at the front of the
Bookstore or at any of the voting booths.
Vote May 5th and 6th
at voting booths located at the Bookstore,
the EMU and 13th and University Street.
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
»★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★**
■■■