G. Else Wiersma
Professor of Sociology

It is well-known that there are noticeable differences in average faculty salaries by  academic departments, and that on average salaries of faculty in the School of Arts and  Sciences lag salaries of their counterparts in professional schools. Business and engineering  faculty salaries rank highest while faculty in Liberal Arts and Sciences rank at the bottom.  Within institutions generally, higher salaries reflect what is deemed more important to the  institution’s self-understanding. It is no different at Salem State University, which reflects a  similar kind of salary differential.

To test national salary trends against patterns at Salem State University, I constructed a  database consisting of tenure-track faculty hired since 1974. The database includes  variables such as starting salaries, departmental affiliation, rank and year hired, academic  degree at hire, gender, and other derivative variables. In this article, I limit myself to a ten- year period (1997 to 2007) and an analysis of starting salaries by comparing mean- averages among the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Human Services.

New faculty starting at substantially higher salaries have a sizable and ongoing advantage,  in that salary increases are usually calculated by the same percentage for everyone; thus,  salary inequities grow with every passing year of employment. In addition, new highly paid  faculty will often outpace senior faculty after a number of years. The Massachusetts State  College Association (MSCA) refers to this phenomenon as ‘salary inversion’, in which faculty  members with fewer years of service or lower academic ranks earn higher salaries.

Comparing mean-average starting salaries by School reveals some striking differences:  Faculty at the Bertolon School of Business are at a substantial financial advantage; they  average a starting salary of $69,573 —significantly higher than any other school or  professional program, with the School of Arts and Sciences ranking lowest ($50,908), or an  initial income gap of $18,665. Various factors affect the income of tenure-track faculty:  academic degree, rank hired, years of prior experience, et cetera.

(NB: Prior to the Union settlement of 1987, gender made a difference; women were hired at  significantly lower salaries than men. Since that year, gender has been statistically nonsignificant  in determining salary.)

Through regression analysis, I found that three factors significantly accounted for 56% of  the variation in income. These three factors, ranked in order of importance are: First, being  hired by the School of Business was the overriding variable predicting salaries at hire-adding  $15,014 while controlling for all other variables. Second, not surprisingly, was rank  at time of hiring, which made a difference of $7,713–again, controlling for other variables  affecting salary. The third reasonably statistically significant factor was being hired by the  School of Arts and Sciences. This lowered the hiring salary by $2,658, a disturbing finding:  Arts and Science faculty lack financial equity at hire.

I have spent my career of almost 36 years on the College’s North Campus. Here, I have  developed an affection for space and built surroundings which show age and history. There  is comfort in familiarity. Nevertheless, during my frequent visits to Central Campus, I am  struck by the physical contrast: private offices, well-equipped classrooms, and open spaces  which invite faculty-student intermingling. It leads me to question priorities in “academic”  and budgetary decision-making, and the degree to which an intellectual climate at Salem  State College is fairly and energetically being cultivated by fostering, funding, and guaranteeing quality learning environments in all its schools.

Is this not the fiduciary responsibility of any college, especially one aspiring to university  status? Comparable salaries for comparable faculty positions is the sine qua non of fairness.

In the latest issue of Salem Statement, President Patricia Maguire Meservey writes: “We are  closer to Salem State University than ever before.” [Editor's note: Legislation later was signed into law to give Salem State the title of "University."]  While I hope her statement is true,  inequitable matters left unchanged will hardly live up to the definition of the word  ‘university’: an educational institution constituting a systematic and ordered whole. Most  reasonable academicians would be loath to have their School of Arts & Sciences  (traditionally non-vocational) inferior to the traditional ‘heart’ of institutions of higher learning.

I, for one, find it questionable wisdom to apply for universityship while letting its School of  Arts and Sciences fiscally function as if it were less enlightened and less necessary. Both of  these aspects are clearly reflected in its comparative salaries, facilities, and technologies  vis-à-vis other Schools. Stated most bluntly, present inequities are unfair and wrong—and,  if I may borrow a phrase from my students, “not very cool.” Our financial disparities are  insulting to the meaning of the word “university.”

This article is part of ASpect’s September 2010 issue on Liberal Arts.