Editor’s Note: Changes were made to this story on 2-28-2021 to reflect accuracy. ‘Salaries’ was changed to ‘numbers’ in the eighth paragraph and the paragraph “from 2011 to 2020, the chancellor has had a salary increase of 40%. The provost saw an 11.6% increase and associate provost for academic programs had a 15.1% increase.” was change to “From 2011 to 2020, the provost saw a 11.6% salary increase and the associate provost for academic provost had a 15.1% increase. The salary of for the interim chancellor position increased 40% between 2015 and 2020.”

Southern Illinois University’s Faculty Senate Budget Committee met Friday afternoon in a Town Hall meeting to discuss policies related to budget equity and issues with the budget within SIUC.

“For decades SIUC has considered equity and anti-discrimination with regard to faculty hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, and treatment to be critical to the success of faculty and of the university as a whole,” the committee said in a budget equity report card.

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However, SIUC’s budget equity policies do not address financial disparities in faculty, tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty. There are also financial issues with administration and compensation.

The committee also said inequities and anti-discrimation issues have not been addressed under existing policies regarding equal opportunities and protected categories.

“No SIUC policy addresses a commitment to remedy pay and service disparities between faculty and administration or between tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty,” the report reads.

SIUC has been in a financial crisis for the past five years, Jacob Haubenreich, FSBC’s chair and associate professor in Languages, Culture, and International Trade, said. 

Based on data provided by the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, Institutional Research and Studies, and SIU Interactive Fact Book online, tenured track salary, undergraduate and graduate assistant salaries and academic unit chairs and director’s salaries have decreased significantly.

Non-tenured track salaries and upper administration and management numbers have remained relatively stable. Non-tenured salary has decreased by 3% while upper administration and management has decreased by 11%.

For the first time in SIUC’s history non-tenured faculty have outnumbered tenured faculty in 2020’s fiscal year. Haubenreich said 30 faculty members left last year due to issues in salary and workload.

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“People are leaving,” Haubenreich said. “This impacts my everyday life, it impacts the education I can offer.” 

 Jennifer Brobst, FSBC member and associate professor of Law, was recently tenured and said she was excited to be a part of a small faculty, but soon realized people were being paid more for the same services she’s doing.

“I don’t expect faculty to be martyrs about it, to ensure everybody has a fair playing field, but I do expect administrators, leaderships and department chairs to take the lead and have policies in place to keep working at remediating this,” she said.

From 2011 to 2020, the provost saw a 11.6% salary increase and the associate provost for academic provost had a 15.1% increase. The salary of for the interim chancellor position increased 40% between 2015 and 2020.

Chancellor Austin Lane is currently on his Listening and Learning Tour, as he settles into his new role. Through the tour Lane hopes to learn more about SIU’s strengths and weaknesses. In regards to the FSBC, he is interested in conducting a salary study.

Staff reporter Keaton Yates can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @keatsians.

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