Trustees focus on faculty compensation, building projects

By George Vlahakis

The Trustees of Indiana University voted 7-2 for a plan that is expected to improve compensation for faculty in each of the professorial ranks during the next two years.

Also at the Feb. 27 meeting, architects were chosen for four building projects throughout the IU system and a design plan was selected for Myers Hall on the Bloomington campus.

In accepting the compensation plan, trustees were acting upon a goal set by IU President Myles Brand at the October Trustees' meeting in New Albany. He determined that the university should rank fourth among Big Ten public universities. A recent report from the American Association of University Professors places IU fifth of 10 public institutions in terms of full professors, seventh in terms of associate professors and 10th in terms of assistant professors.

Judith Palmer, IU vice president for finance and chief financial officer, researched a half-dozen policy alternatives to close a $3.6 million gap in average compensation according to academic rank.

Brand recommended to trustees that IU raise average total compensation to an undisputed fourth place in terms of rank. Allowances will be made so gender and racial equity would be addressed first, before overall compensation is improved, the trustees decided. Each campus will determine which departments receive additional compensation funding.

"It is not my goal to reach the lowest common denominator. It is my goal to be competitive," Brand said. "I don't necessarily want to bring all disciplines up to fourth. We want to leave flexibility for the campus and the schools to be able to reward excellence."

Dissenting from the majority were trustees Ray Richardson and Robert McKinney, who raised questions about how the initiative would be funded and implemented.

Other business:
• Architects were selected for the Science and Campus Service Facilities building at IU Kokomo, the renovation of the Professional Building at IU Northwest, the addition to the science building at IU Southeast and the new Student Activities Center at IU South Bend.

• Approval was given for renovation in Smith Hall, a building in the Collins Living-Learning Center at IUB. All interior partitions, exhaust ducts, plumbing, finishes and fixtures will be replaced at an estimated cost of $705,000.

• Plans for IUB's Myers Hall and the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology were approved. Built in 1935, the building will require a "penthouse" to house mechanical improvements that cannot be contained within the original structure. When completed, the building will have 11 lab suites and 200 research benches, said designer Frank Adams. It has an estimated cost of $14 million.

• A new degree, the bachelor of science in American sign language at IUPUI, was approved.

• HOK Sports and IUB Athletics Director Clarence Doninger presented an update on a master plan for athletics facilities.

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