The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 9, 1978 Page: 1 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
RkSThroshei
volume 65, number 27
thursday, march 9,1978
Faculty salaries continue to lag behind inflation
by David Butler
The Rice faculty, in their
general meeting Monday,
gave final approval to the
changeover from course
credits to semester hour
credits, received the not-
unexpected news that salaries
are lagging behind inflation,
and heard a report from
President Norman Hacker-
man on the state of University
building renovations.
Hackerman opened the
meeting by reading into the
record an official commen-
dation of Architecture Dean
David Crane, who is departing
after the current year. The
president then commented on
the progress of renovations to
the Chemistry building. While
the facelift will cost almost $2
million, Hackerman said that
"we had no real choice," since
the alternative—a new
building meeting OSHA and
city fire codes—would not
have been as permanent as the
present structure.
The other current projeet,
expansion of the gymnasium,
is expected to begin "within
the next couple of weeks," at a
cost of approximately $1.4
million. Hackerman stated
that Rice is trying to put its
buildings in a rehabilitation
schedule, with a goal of one
renovation per year.
After the resolution to
change credits to the semester
hour system cleared its second
reading on a unanimous voice
vote, physics professor
Stephen Baker presented the
Faculty Council's annual
salary report. The report noted
that, while Rice's ranking
among other Ph.D.-granting
institutions in terms of faculty
compensation has risen over
the past year, the real incomes
(adjusted for inflation) of
assistant, associate, and full
professors over the past four
years has decreased by $1200,
$2400, and $2800 respectively.
While the salaries have been
increased by 33, 38, and 32
percent over the past five
years, Baker pointed out that
the Consumer Price Index has
risen by 46 percent over the
same period, and the cost of
living for upper-income
families in the Houston area
has jumped 51 percent.
While the Faculty Council's
report did not make specific
recommendations, it noted
that in order to place all of
Rice's salaries at the 62nd
percentile among Ph.D.-
granting schools (where full
professors' salaries fell last
year) would have required a
2.8 percent increase over the
actual salary budget. (Last
year, assistant professors'
salaries were at the 40th
percentile, and associate
professors' at the 31st
percentile—both increases
over the 75-76 year.) A boost of
9.9 percent, or $780,000 over
the actual budget, would have
placed all instructors' salaries
at the 80th percentile among
their peers.
Hackerman responded to
the salary report by comment-
ing that Rice should compare
its salaries to other univer-
sities, and not to the Consumer
Price Index; by those
standards, the professors' lot
has improved over the last
year. He noted that "(Rice's)
esteem is greater now than it
has been in some time," as
expressed in outside dona-
tions, but warned that "we
shouldn't take that increase
(in giving) and deposit it in a
temporary alleviation of
suffering. Those words may
come back to bite me, (but) I
choose every one of those
words carefully." The
president suggested that Rice
loses new faculty because of a
lack of specialized research
facilities, rather than
inadequate salaries.
The council then briefly
considered a proposal to set up
faculty and student approval
procedures for the changes in
teacher evaluation procedures
currently under preparation
by the Committee on
Undergraduate Teaching.
However, since the committee
has not presented its formal
recommendations yet, the
motion was tabled on a
divided voice vote. Hacker-
man said that special
meetings would be called if
"substantial" changes are
made; the current plan is to use
the existing procedures for
this semester, and approve the
new procedures in time for use
in the fall.
The next faculty meeting is
scheduled for May 12, in order
to officially approve the
degrees to be awarded the
following day.
Election, referendum set for March 21
In their second meeting of
the semester, the SA senate
affirmed the election of their
successors and set a special
election for March 21 to fill tne
posts unfiled for in the first
election and consider a
proposed increase in the
Thresher blanket tax
allotment.
Results of the Feb. 21
election were unanimously
approved. The new members
of the executive council will be
Roy Beller, president; John
Cockerham, external affairs
vice-president; Matt Muller,
internal affairs vice-president;
and Mark Whitney, secretary.
At Beller's request the official
transition of the offices has
Phones to be disrupted
been delayed two weeks until
April 3.
A special election was called
to select two off campus
senators and Thresher
business manager. Seeking
the senators' position will be
Stephen Jeu, a sophomore
from Sid Rich, R. Dale Baker, a
sophomore from Will Rice, and
Kevin Badeaux, a sophomore
from Sid Rich. Elizabeth Pfaff,
a sophomore from Jones
College, will be the unopposed
candidate for Thresher
business manager.
Campaign statements by
the candidates will appear in
next week's Thresher. They
should be double spaced,
typewritten on a sixty-
character margin and be
turned in at the Thresher
office before 5pm next
Tuesday, March 14.
Also on the ballot will be a
referendum to increase the
Thresher's present blanket
tax allotment of $3.60 by an
additional dollar. Michelle
Smith, Thresher editor-elect
noted a need to provide a more
reliable source of revenue and
to upgrade some of the present
Thresher equipment. The
motion to include the
referendum in the special
election was passed unani-
mously.
As with the other requests
for blanket tax increases this
semester, passage of the
referendum requires that 35
percent of the students
participate and of that
number, over 60 percent vote
in favor of the change.
The Senate also reviewed
the recommendations for the
University Standing Commit-
tees. Approved were the
selections for the Committees
on Admissions, Affirmative
Action, Campus Safety,
Examinations and Standing,
Education Council, Athletics,
Library and Student Health.
When interviews for the
positions are completed, the
names will be sent to President
Hackerman for final approval.
The three names recom-
mended to Proctor Sam
Carrington for the Parking
Appeals Board were rejected
by the Proctor and applica-
tions for the positions have
been reopened. Applications
and additional information
are available in the SA office
on the second floor of the
RMC.
by Steve Sullivan
Phone service to Fondren
Library, the RMC, and a few
other buildings on campus will
be somewhat haphazard this
Saturday as Fisk employees
undertake the repair of the
infamous Library Splice.
The Library Splice is a place
in the steam tunnels under
Fondren Library where most
of the phone lines for that part
of the campus meet, commin-
gle, and occasionally end
before continuing on to the
main switch room in Allen
Center. The wires spliced
together often do not conform
to the documentation in Allen
Center, so lines intended for
one purpose end up being used
for another.
When KTRU discovered
that the lines they had
reserved for live broadcasts
from Lyle's in the Lovett
basement and from Sewall
Hall 301 had other people's
phones on them and were
unusable, KTRU Station
Manager Eric Sisson went to
Ken Williams bf the Campus
Business Office to ask that
something be done about the
Library Splice.
Once Fisk officials inspec-
ted the splice, they agreed it
had to be repaired. The work
was originally slated to be
done over break, but the people
needed to do the job weren't
available. So instead, work on
the splice will begin Saturday
morning and continue all day
and into the night if
necessary. The phones
affected will be disconnected
intermittently as work on the
Splice proceeds, but Williams
says there should not be any
phone which will be discon-
nected for any extended length
of time.
All this work shouldn't cost
the University a cent. "It's
their mess," said Williams.
"They did a bad job down
there. If I get an invoice, I'm
not going to approve it."
The Library Splice
•waiter underw
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Parker, Philip. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 9, 1978, newspaper, March 9, 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245364/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.