The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 10, 1979 Page: 1 of 12
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Administration announces salary increase
by Matt Muller
President Hackerman
three weeks ago announced a
long-awaited pay raise for all
members of the faculty and
staff.
The 3% across-the-board
increase is significant despite
the 13% annual rate of inflation
because it follows merit-based
raises awarded earlier last
spring which averaged 7.5% for
faculty members.
Over the last two years the
faculty have voiced increasing
concern about the steadily
declining position of their
salaries relative to other
universities.
Most recently, the report of
the Faculty Committee on
ThaRice
Thresher
Volume LXVII, No. 1
July 7, 1979
Committee postpones decision
by Richard Dees
The Campus Store Advisory
Committee has postponed its
decision concerning the
disbursement of some $200,000
of the store's surplus
accumulated income. The
committee also decided to
implement its earlier decision
to increase the student discount
at the store from 5% to 8% on
July 1
In its meeting April 30, the
committee rescinded its earlier
agreement to reserve the
surplus income for future
expansions of the bookstore.
Alter hearing the presentations
of Greg Woodhams, represent-
ing the Commitee of Masters
and Presidents, and John
Cockerham, Student Associa-
tion president, the committee
agreed to postpone making a
decision about the money until
fall.
The $200,000 surplus
accumulation consists of
investments valued at
approximately $150,000 and
about $50,000 in excess cash.
The previously reported
figure of $500,000 represents
the entire accumulated profits
Rain delays Will Rice
commons renovations
by Wayne Derrick
Work is underway on the
renovation of Will Rice
Commons. The Linbeck
Construction Corporation
began the $400,000 project
immediately after finals last
May.
In 1975 Linbeck renovated
the WRC, Baker and Hanszen
old dorms and did the work on
the Phase III Chemistry
Building improvements this
year. Linbeck has also been
awarded the contracts for a
new baseball stands and for the
renovation of Jones Commons.
"As far as I am concerned,
Linbeck has done good work in
the past...and they are very
reliable," said Campus
Business Manager Russell
Pitman.
There ^re no late penalties in
the contract. Will Rice Master
Dr. C.D. Armeniades explained
that since contractors normally
raise their estimates to
compensate for such penalties
the university has decided
instead "to depend upon the
goodwill of the contractor."
Mr. Pitman adds, "such
penalties are usually in the
range of $50-100 per day. When
compared with the overall cost
of the contract, these provide
little extra incentive for the
contractor. We think that with
the present contract the
company will want to meet the
deadline so that they will have a
better chance for future
contracts at Rice."
Though he has no official
status in this phase of the
renovation, Dr. Armeniades is
"looking after the welfare of the
college" with daily checks of the
progress of the commons. He
feels that the foreman and the
working crew are competent,
although he warns that work is
still in the preliminary stages.
The foundation and kitchen
extension are completed, but
the crew is three days behind
schedule because of rain.
Leaks developed in the
commons roof and prevented
interior construction. Since the
leaks could not be repaired
economically the roof is being
replaced. By preventing
construction inside the
commons this will obviously
delay completion of the
project. However, Dr.
Armeniades reported that
Linbeck optimistically feels
confident that with good
weather they will still meet the
August deadline.
However, delays are
probable. Some construction
slowdowns are beyond
Linbeck's control. For
instance, the independent
truckers' strike delayed the
shipment of a load of steel.
Also, according to Mr. Pitman,
the construction situation in
Houston has changed: the great
amount of construction in
progress across the city means
that Linbeck cannot depend
(cont. on page 3J
of the store and includes almost
$300,000 in operating capital.
In past years the surplus
accumulation has helped build
the Rice Memorial Center and
Willy's Pub.
Current suggestions for the
money's use include (1) using it
to establish a college
endowment fund from which
the colleges could draw the
interest every year, (2) using it
as "seed money" for a fund
drive for the library, and (3)
using it to expand the RMC.
At the meeting Woodhams
and Cockerham said that
students felt the money should
not be used to expand the
bookstore, but to start the
library's fund drive.
The Campus Store Advisory
Committee consists of Campus
Business Manager Russ
Pitman, chairman; Campus
Store Manager Eleanor
McReynolds; E.D. Butcher,
alumnus; Professor Harold
Rorschach, faculty; and
Cynthia Sommervill, under-
graduate student. A faculty
member and an undergraduate
student to replace leaving
committee members Professor
Joseph Wilson and Cullen
Duke are yet to be named. A
graduate student, also
unnamed, will sit on the
committee beginning this fall.
Educational Enhancement
noted that Rice's faculty
salaries, among the nation's
highest ten years ago, were
exceeded in 1978-79 by all
major universities as well as by
25 other colleges and
universities in the state of
Texas.
Funds for the 3% hike came
from a budget surplus
attributed to a higher-than-
expected return on Endow-
ment Fund investments.
Surplus funds appear with
some regularity from year to
year since the University
budgets conservatively, but not
for several years have the funds
been used for a salary increase.
President Hackerman's
decision to apply the funds
toward the increase was
probably affected by several
recent events which accentuat-
ed the need for a wage increase.
"The Faculty Council report
on salaries was unusually
distressing this year," said Dr.
Sidney Burrus. "Also, through
Dr. Hackerman, several
members of the faculty spoke
informally with the Governors
about this, so they were more
than usually conscious of this
situation," he added.
Dr. Burrus applauded
Hackerman's decision to use
the funds for salary increases
rather than for single-year
bonuses and to include staff
members in the increase, since
"they were in as bad shape as
we were."
Although the current
inflation rate will quickly
devour anv real increases in
buying power, Dr. Burrus was
pleased with the raises, noting
"Rice had been slipping behind
even the second-rate Texas
schools. Now, this at least
heads us in the right direction."
"Even if this doesn't pull us
back to where we were a few
years ago," Dr. Burrus
concluded, "it's darn sure going
to help."
Circulation system purchased
Fondren gets bonus
by Matt Muller
An infusion of year-end
surplus funds has allowed
Fondren Library to purchase
an "off-the-shelf automated
circulation system and to
allocate an additional $48,000
to the acquisitions budget..
The old circulation records
system, plagued by computer
interface problems, quit
working last spring and
reduced Fondren Library to a
manual records-keeping
system which made sending out
overdue notices virtually
impossible.
Acting Librarian Samuel
Carrington describes the new
equipment as a turn-key
system. "There should be no
software (computer program)
or computer interface
problems with this machine,"
he said.
The new equipment will be
installed and operational
before freshman week, said
Carrington. He added,
however, that entering the
information recorded manually
last spring into the new
computer will be "very time
consuming."
"Another problem we might
have," said Carrington,"will be
convincing the faculty to return
materials they took out last
spring."
The new equipment utilizes
the same sort of 'bar codes' as
those used to mark products in
grocery stores Rather than
attempting to put coded labels
into the entire collection at
once, Carrington said that the
.library staff will piace the code
labels on the books as they are
checked out in the future.
Carrington declined to
comment on the exact price of
the new machine, stating only
that its cost was "considerable" .
"I'd rather not say exactly
how much we paid," he said,
"but I will tell you that the
money did not come out of the
regular library budget."
In addition to the $48,000
allocated out of surplus
university funds to the books
and periodicals acquisitions
budget. Carrington reported
(com. on page 3)
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~38|
Will Rice Commons as it appears this summer
photo by Wayne Orrrick
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Muller, Matthew. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 10, 1979, newspaper, July 10, 1979; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245407/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.