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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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 Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:38 pm Post subject: Would YOU be angry? |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/education/04michigan.html?ref=education
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| Classes at a suburban Detroit university were canceled indefinitely on Thursday after professors went on strike, upset over being asked to freeze their salaries a year after the university�s president received a $100,000 raise. |
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Last year, the university increased President Gary Russi�s base pay to $350,000 from $250,000.
At the time, a university spokesman, Ted Montgomery, said the increase was needed to bring Mr. Russi�s pay in line with the heads of other state schools, but the increase has angered many faculty and students. |
Yeah, well, my salary needs to be brought up in line with the professors of other schools. Are they going to do THAT?
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www.ralphsesljunction.com |
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aboxofchocolates
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Location: on your mind
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:05 pm Post subject: Re: Would YOU be angry? |
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| cubanlord wrote: |
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/education/04michigan.html?ref=education
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| Classes at a suburban Detroit university were canceled indefinitely on Thursday after professors went on strike, upset over being asked to freeze their salaries a year after the university’s president received a $100,000 raise. |
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Last year, the university increased President Gary Russi’s base pay to $350,000 from $250,000.
At the time, a university spokesman, Ted Montgomery, said the increase was needed to bring Mr. Russi’s pay in line with the heads of other state schools, but the increase has angered many faculty and students. |
Yeah, well, my salary needs to be brought up in line with the professors of other schools. Are they going to do THAT?
~
www.ralphsesljunction.com |
Wow, biased reporting there.
My uni went on strike a few years back. Students generally supported the profs. |
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crash bang
Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Location: gwangju
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| why are you saying it is biased? |
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aboxofchocolates
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Location: on your mind
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| crash bang wrote: |
| why are you saying it is biased? |
Just my opinion, could be wrong. |
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crash bang
Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Location: gwangju
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| you could be right. you could be wrong. i''m just interested in hearing you support your opinion. |
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aboxofchocolates
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Location: on your mind
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I re-read it to support my opinion, then I realized I had misread it to read many students were upset about the strike. Seems many were upset about some pay issue, I can't remember what. |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| I remember there was a big strike at York University in Toronto a little while back. Classes got canceled and student's schedules got screwed up, the strikers eventually got legislated back to work. If I was a student there I would have been pretty pissed. |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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The huge raise for the president was uncalled for. But at the same time, the average professor salary is $55,000 a year, which is well above the average American income and it's about 10k over the median income as well. These professors make some decent coin as it is.
Also, why do people become professors? HOPEFULLY, it's because they care about the subject matter. They care about the students and want them to learn and do well. Finally, it's a state university in one of the economically worst off states in the country.
I think that the professors are wrong. Going on strike at the beginning of the semester is a cheap move. Yes, the professors are probably getting the shaft, but going on strike at this point hurts the students. They paid money for an education, they aren't getting it. Knowing MY university, I wouldn't see a dime of money back. Are these kids going to get a refund?
Why couldn't they go on strike BEFORE the semester was about to start, or why couldn't they wait until the semester break this December? They planned the strike poorly, IMO. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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| nathanrutledge wrote: |
| The huge raise for the president was uncalled for. But at the same time, the average professor salary is $55,000 a year, which is well above the average American income and it's about 10k over the median income as well. These professors make some decent coin as it is. |
$55k/year is low considering all the education they've had to pay for. |
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TECO
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Real Reality? |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
The huge raise for the president was uncalled for. But at the same time, the average professor salary is $55,000 a year, which is well above the average American income and it's about 10k over the median income as well.
Also, why do people become professors? HOPEFULLY, it's because they care about the subject matter.
Why couldn't they go on strike BEFORE the semester was about to start, or why couldn't they wait until the semester break this December? They planned the strike poorly, IMO. |
I am not writing to be difficult to the poster, but to consider the points.
1. The average professor salary is $55,000. This does not take into consideration the giant pay disparities in professorial salaries. It might be that the senior tenured profs who are making $200k are not in favor of the strike, and the juniors who are making $39,000 are. Being an American university professor is a little like being a pilot. Your education is expensive and then you make peanuts until the late part of your career.
2. Professors enter their trades for research and for the students, yes. But that argument can be made for the administrators as well. Why can't the president be held to the same moral standard, and work for $55k a year too? This excuse, used from Wall Street to universities, that we have to pay people ridiculous salaries because they'll go elsewhere, needs to be exploded. There is no shortage of people capable of filling a figurehead role of university president.
3. I agree that professors are partly protesting at the students' expense. But I'm not sure there is an alternative. How can professors strike in July, when they're not teaching classes? Why would anyone care at that time of the year if the professors are missing some obscure conference or publication and not their classes?
I'm not sure if what the professors are doing is right. Hopefully, they will make their strike a short one to make their point and then get back to class to keep the moral high ground. Not sure that will happen. I suppose the article got me annoyed because of the complaints I had all the time from students in the states about how expensive tuition was, and how much of it was consumed not by faculty but by excessive administration and support: often people who acted like civil servants and did little.
Ken:> |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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That's true, the older professors make more than the younger ones. But back to my point of the REASON why people become professors. The average salary for someone who holds a doctorate is over 80k a year, so obviously, in the private sector, they could make more. People become professors for reasons other than money.
If they had started the strike in the summer, it would not have affected the students the way it is now, yet it would get the point across. If they strike in the summer and it isn't resolved quickly, the University loses students and the students aren't hurt financially like they may be here. Also, if they announce a strike right at the end of the first semester, they have 3 weeks to resolve it before the students are affected again.
Kuros, I agree with you. My point was more along the lines of if they don't strike, they aren't out on the streets. They make enough money to survive.
Which brings me back to my original thought. These aren't service workers working for minimum wage. If UPS drivers aren't getting what they deserve and go on strike the week before Christmas, I'd have more sympathy for them. Minimum wage, no benefits vs. higher than average salary and decent benefits? The UPS driver NEEDS what he strikes for, the professors have a bit more leeway and are getting what they WANT on the backs of the students. |
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