Faculty Votes On Bonus Pay Options

THE METROPOLITAN « NOVEMBER 29. 2007 « METRO « A5

Faculty votes on bonus pay options By ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE [email protected] Metro professors have until noon Nov. 29 to vote on a plan for awarding bonus pay that would change the way they are evaluated each year and, if they score high enough, could reward them with a sum of money. Proposed by the Board of Trustees, (which says the extra pay would encourage teachers to do a better job), the pay for performance plan, or P4P, has faced criticism from faculty members who say that several other problems, including the differences in the level of teacher salaries, or equity and parity, need to be addressed first. “(Metro) President (Stephen) Jordan has really made some progress with equity within the institution, but the salaries are still low with exception of the business school,” said English professor Gene Saxe, who is the faculty’s representative to the trustees. Saxe said that in 2006 the trustees boosted the pay of the teachers that were lagging furthest behind, but much work needed to be done. More than $2 million has been set aside from the school’s budget to fund the bonuses, but Saxe said when

compared to the nearly $45 million faculty payroll, the money would not go very far. “There needs to be substantial progress made (on equity) ... and this (P4P) is not a salary improvement program,” he said. According to the first part of the plan supported by both faculty and administration, the teacher evaluation system would change from the current A – F grades to a three category system, and the cost of living increase added each year to the teacher’s salary would be in line with the raises the state gives all employees. The professors would be scored in four areas – teaching, advising and student support, college and community service, and scholarship – and those who do something extraordinary in one or more area and did not lag behind in any other area would then qualify for the bonus part of the plan. There are three levels of money for exceeding standards in the four categories, and officials have estimated the awards could be between $2,000 and $10,000 per teacher. The money would be paid out over the course of the following year. To make the plan a reality, a number of changes have to be made, such

as amending the school handbook, reworking the student evaluations and dealing with the rules governing how teachers are reviewed and promoted. Changes made in the past to such important areas, Saxe said, have often taken more than a year to get passed. The pay for performance plan, if approved by the faculty, would begin in January before any of the corresponding changes had been made. Saxe said because so many other areas were affected by the change that still needed to be resolved, the teachers were being asked to assume that all the promised changes will be completed. “They are asking people to take things on trust and now, that’s OK,” said Saxe, who has taught at Metro for 41 years. “But it will depend entirely on how much trust the faculty have for the administration and the committee.” Saxe repeated several times during the interview that he did not want to be misquoted as attacking the plan, Jordan, or the many people had worked very hard on the plan. “They have all tried to work very responsibly, and they have all worked very hard on the plan,” he said. Other members of the faculty, however, have been quite vocal about their opposi-

tion to the plan. History instructor and president of the Metro State Faculty Federation, Ellen Slatkin said she worked all year to inform her fellow teachers about what she says are problems with the plan. She also said she respects the amount of work the P4P committee and others have put into working out this compromise, but the MSFF maintains that not only does the inequity in salaries need to be dealt with before any plan for bonuses is implemented, but that the entire system of merit bonuses will end up encouraging the teachers to work on special projects, while they neglect the day- to- day duties. Slatkin said studies done at Stanford and Harvard indicate that pay for performance is not always effective in raising productivity and has been known to harm teamwork by over-emphasizing competitiveness. “We’ve hired a lot of brilliant professors in the last few years,” Slatkin said. “But under these conditions, I think we could lose a lot of them.” Jordan said he is very aware that finding the best possible teachers depends on Metro offering a competitive salary to teachers, which he said is largely decided by the market. He said bringing wages in line

with comparable schools is exactly what he is trying to do. “The truth of it is some people in some professions get paid more than other people in other professions,” Jordan said. “There are clearly some disciplines where the starting salaries are much higher than in, for instance, the liberal arts.” Jordan said the administration has spent adequate time trying to amend the major differences in pay. He said he understands the concern of faculty on the subject of trust and many of the handbook and other small changes that need to be made are minor and are not items that should delay the plan. The work that everyone involved had put in the last year and a half has done a lot to show how committed the sides were to an agreement. Jordan reiterated, however, there were other offices such as Student Affairs and Technology that needed attention and that as president he had to think of everyone’s needs. “There is a limit on what we can do,” Jordan said. “There are a whole bunch of other issues that we have put on hold while we address this issue … and the board has hired me to make some difficult decisions.”

Pepsi replaces Coke on campus to boost revenue By JEREMY JOHNSON [email protected] Auraria administrators recently faced the same old question that’s been plaguing America’s soft drink connoisseurs since the turn of the century: Coke or Pepsi? Effective Nov. 26, in coordination with unanimous decisions by the Auraria Board of Directors and the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board, Auraria officially switched from Coke to Pepsi products and vending machines. “The Coke agreement had expired, so we went out and solicited for different proposals,” Finance and Program Director of the Student and Auxiliary Services Dave Caldwell said. “(The proposal) was brought to SACAB for review and they decided to move forward with negotiations and take it to the Auraria Board.” After comparing other college vending contracts, the board agreed to a five-year initial term with a five-year renewal option with both Pepsi and collaborating food vendor Canteen. “(The board goes) through a whole bid process and considers the different bids offered,” Division Director of SAS Barb Weiske said. “There’s a lot of variables that are considered including the product line, product service and revenue.” Weiske added that the revenue goes directly back into the student bond and helps to offset student fees. Along with a $150,000 signing

bonus and an additional bonus of $20,000 per year beginning the second year of the contract, Auraria will receive a commission of 23.2 percent on snacks and 55 percent on beverages. Auraria’s snack commission is nearly 5 percent higher than the University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado State University. Beverage commissions are comparable to CU and higher than those of CSU, though the latter receives $885,000 from Pepsi in athletic program funding. Despite the revenue increase, some students aren’t buying into the switch. “It’s not even that they got rid of the Coke products,” senior biology student Melodi Wood said. “They only have (Pepsi) in bottles – plastic bottles. And we don’t have a plastic recycling program on campus, which I think is an issue.” Although the change officially took place Nov. 26, many of the 183 vending machines on campus were traded out during the Thanksgiving holiday break. Like the Coke machines before them, the Pepsi models offer the typical assortment of soft drinks, including soda pop, juice, sport drinks and water. What sets the new machines apart is their built-in credit and debit card readers, located on the front of the machines. “That was a big highlight,” Weiske said. “It really became an issue of loose change versus credit and

Photo by JEREMY PAPASSO/[email protected]

Cole Cronk, a Metro junior, buys a Pepsi from one of the new machines Nov. 27. The decision was made by the Auraria Board of Directors to change all Coke machines on campus to Pepsi. The new vending machines will continue to offer the regular assortment of soft drinks, juice and water with a new feature that allows payments with credit and debit cards. debit cards. That seemed to be the biggest factor with the students.” Weiske also added that if the vending machine credit card readers are popular, the change might be made to vending machines campuswide. But, alas, convenience will cost you … about a quarter. Most of the new Pepsi machines offer 20 oz. drinks at $1.25, compared to the previous Coke price of $1. “The price is a little higher but I

like (the Pepsi machines) because of the whole credit card thing,” Metro music education student C.J. Garbo said, while sipping on a vitamin water that once sold for $1.25 but that now costs $1.50. “It’s nice to have vending machines that take cards because there’s only, like, three ATM machines that I know of on campus, and I’m never near any of them.” So debit, credit or cash, it seems

the big blue machines really are the next generation of vending on Auraria, not only in product, but also in convenience. Still, the decision of Coke or Pepsi is ultimately up to the consumer, and Coke products are still available in the Tivoli food court and Quick Zone convenience store. “It doesn’t really matter to me,” human services Metro student Elyse Hughes said. “Whichever is available.”