Two of 10 administrators who received salary increases because of additional duties in Fiscal Year 2003 were only given those raises so they would return to their original base salaries.

The Faculty Senate and faculty union president both previously expressed concern on why such raises for additional duties were given. They learned of the raises after a Freedom of Information request was distributed Oct. 21 to the senate that revealed the increases. A total of $227,975 in salary raises was awarded in FY 03 with $67,441 being awarded for additional duties to 10 administrators.

Two of those salary increases were not really raises.

William Weber, the acting associate vice president for academic affairs, received an $8,445 raise for FY 03, but he said in FY 02 he had only worked 11 months. The increase resulted from his salary being calculated again on a 12-month pay schedule.

Jody Stone, assistant director of student housing, said his 28.2 percent, $12,537 salary increase resulted from money previously received as a stipend, now had been factored into his base pay. The base pay increase actually came in 2001 when the university decided to not replace one of the assistant directors of housing, thus reducing the number of assistant directors from three to two.

The remaining eight administrators resulted from additional duties incurred from some departments folding and merging with another.

The 10 administrators were listed as having salary increases for additional duties on a Freedom of Information requested by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The president of the faculty union and the senate previously expressed desire for clarification of those salary increases in FY 03 from FY 02 that totaled more than $67,000.

Most faculty and administrators did not receive a salary increase for FY 03 because of the state budget deficit.

Charles Delman, president of University Professionals of Illinois, the faculty union, said no comparable clause for additional duties is available to faculty.

“I’m not saying there isn’t an explanation for the raises,” math professor Delman said. “I just believe the administration should be more open about its policy decisions.”

The percentage increases for the additional duties adjustments ranged from 4 percent to 28.2 percent and $2,700 and $12,537.

Julia Abell, director of Planning and Institutional Studies, said she assumed the commencement office’s fiscal and operational responsibilities after the late Mr. Mark Haines retired from his role as director of commencement.

Steve Rich, director of Alumni Services, said his $2,700 salary increase resulted from one administrative office merging with his.

Cynthia Nichols, director of Civil Rights and Diversity, said her staff has been reduced from 3.88 staff members in fall 2001 to 2.75 in the last year. The 3.88 number means three full-time workers and 88 percent of the work hours from another. Now, the work that was once done by four is now done by Nichols, Robert Miller, associate director of Civil Rights, and Christy Blew, an assistant director of Civil Rights. Nichols said Blew’s position is a temporary full-time one.

Additional duties also found

According to numbers used by payroll and that were checked by Delman, there were 630 faculty members and academic support professionals in the UPI bargaining unit. That group received a total of $310,191 in salary raises, an average of $492 per employee, an average of 1.1 percent in FY 03. Faculty can only receive pay increases by promotion or from a teaching award that can be applied for once every five years.

Administrative and professional personnel, consisting of 265 employees, received a total of $227,975 in salary increases, an average of $860 per employee.

“This isn’t new. This has been going on for a long time,” Delman said. “Over the years, we haven’t seen any actions on the part of administration that would demonstrate commitment to giving us a salary that is commending us for our work.”

Delman referenced Eastern has ranked in the upper third in the U.S. World News & Report the last three years. Hencken acknowledges the faculty’s success, but said the money simply was not there.

“If we had more dollars, we’d like to do some of these things,” Hencken said. “It’s unfortunate we don’t have money to pay additional salaries for faculty.”

Delman said larger class sizes are reason enough to validate additional duties. According to numbers from the university’s Institutional Planning and Studies Web site, the number of classes with more than 100 students jumped from 16 in fall 2001 to 26 in fall 2002.

The last thing Hencken wants is for the faculty to believe they are not a priority.

“What I don’t want to happen is a me against them, them against us,” Hencken said.