Faculty Association	April 6, 2000

The budget priorities below are listed in order of importance from most to least. They are divided into external and internal categories. The external priorities are topics that we believe the president and provost should address to the legislature and the Board of Regents, while the internal priorities relate to the issues that the provost and president of the faculty association should consider in interaction with President Hopkins and the university executive committee.

External

1. We recommend that our peer group for budgetary comparison purposes be changed to those schools ranked as the top tier universities in the South by U.S. News and World Report. Since UNF is presently (1999) identified as a tier 2 university in the South, our external goal for all categories should first be to become ranked in the top tier of schools in the South.

2. In order to attract and retain the highest quality faculty, salaries must be competitive with the peer group identified above. Faculty salaries at UNF are currently in the 68th percentile of the peer group to which we have been assigned (an inappropriate placement). Salaries should be increased to at least the 50th percentile of the top tier Southern schools.

3. One way to raise faculty salaries is to divert money from other uses to this purpose. The state has systematically reduced the percentage of state funding to education. This trend should be reversed with the predominant share of these additional dollars allocated to increasing faculty salaries.

4. The private, non-educational sector of our economy has greatly increased efficiency by reducing middle management. UNF and the SUS need to do likewise, but this can only occur if the impetus and opportunity are provided by the legislature and governor.

5. After establishing UNF as one of the top tier schools in the South, the university should aspire to even higher goals.

Internal

1. Presently, about 64% of the university E&G budget is allocated to Academic Affairs. This distribution is well below what it should be. The university executive committee should determine what the comparable percentages are for the top tier Southern universities and establish the mean percentage as a goal for UNF.

2. The additional funds discussed above should be allocated to teaching, research, and service. However, currently only 44.24% of the E&G budget is allocated to instruction. UNF is a comprehensive institution whose mission emphasizes high quality undergraduate teaching. What does it say about quality if less than 45% of the non-physical plant budget is allocated to this purpose?

3. Students enrolled during the Summer semester deserve the same quality instruction as those matriculating during the Fall and Spring. Some colleges have historically taught these classes with over 50% adjunct professors. Adjunct usage should be reduced to the average of top tier Southern schools ( 16.25%). Current data indicate that of the 33 universities in this top tier category only two report higher adjunct usage (31% and 34%) than UNF (30%).

4. In addition, adjunct usage is not consistent across colleges or across semesters as exhibited in the table below. The faculty recommend a redistribution of resources across colleges to solve this problem. It is also recommended that differential compensation be instituted for adjuncts across disciplines to enhance the likelihood that all adjuncts will be of the highest quality.

TABLE:
Average Percentages of Students Taught by Adjuncts 1997-98 and 1998-99 by College

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