In 2022, the cost of living for a single parent was $33,602 according to livingwage.mit.edu. Since then, the wage has increased roughly 31 percent to $43,981.

With the current lack of contracts for Eastern’s chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois, EIU-UPI, professors may not meet that cost-of-living minimum.

Instructors who do not meet the 2022 and 2023 Illinois cost of living (the salaries listed are from the 2021 fiscal year):

With that, some of the instructors listed above may not be a full-time professor or have been hired in the middle of the school year.

Yet none of them meet the cost of living for 2023.

Instructors that do not meet the 2023 Illinois cost of living (based on their 2021 salaries):

Illinois is the ninth lowest cost of living in the United States with a average housing cost of $855 to $1,693, according to sofi.com

Information for current salaries is not available on https://salarysearch.ibhe.org/search.aspx

With the lack of contracts given to EIU-UPI, the union has voted to authorize the ability to call for a strike on March 9. The union has to have a 10 day wait period before going on strike.

The union has been negotiating obtaining contracts for over a year (exactly a year on March 21).

With University President David Glassman retiring, he will become a professor in the Department of Anthropology and will obtain a monthly salary of $17,777.78 for a nine-month contract. Glassman will only teach one course in the spring 2024 semester.

While president during the fiscal year 2021, Glassman earned $325,412, which was the highest salary at Eastern.

Current provost and vice president of academic affairs, Jay Gatrell, was approved an annual salary of $320K and an annual house allowance of $32,289 when he begins his term as the 13th president in July.

The highest paid assistant professors 2021 (not including additional compensation):

Top 10 highest paid instructors as of 2021 (not including addition compensation):

Cam’ron Hardy can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].