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Council of Higher Education Newsletter
Faculty United to Improve Higher Education in SD October 2009
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Greetings! Welcome to COHE News, an irregular yet informative collection of news bits on higher education in South Dakota. Dues-paying COHE members received this newsletter earlier this week. If you are interested in joining us, please reply or visit http://sdea.org.
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LEGISLATIVE ALERT!
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Our sources report that in his next budget, Governor Rounds
will not include any pay increases for any state employees. We are concerned that faculty will again
suffer from a second year with no cost of living increase. This is particularly disappointing, because
South Dakota ranks dead last among the fifty states in total compensation
packages in public comprehensive doctoral-granting universities. After a dozen years of increasing our salaries,
policymakers brought us within 7% of the regional average. We will now give up some of these gains, as
several neighboring states increase their faculty salaries. A second year of no pay increase will hurt
both recruitment and retention of quality faculty.
However, we also hear that the BOR and the University
Presidents are hoping to find some internal funds to increase faculty salaries
a bit. We hope that legislators
understand these decisions and do not comment that if we can give salary
increases, there "must be too much money in the higher education system." In past years, the universities have added
one percent, typically, to the salary increase granted by the state. Usually, these result from "salary salvage,"
that is, when senior faculty retire, the replacement hire is typically brought
in at something below the retiree's salary.
This salvage across the university has been distributed across all
faculty.
Further, we understand that
all state employees deserve a pay increase.
However, South Dakota is competing for faculty in a national labor market. To continue to improve our applicant pool and
retain the best faculty, we must become competitive in salaries. Every faculty should be aware of these
issues and communicate with policymakers in their community.
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WHO ARE WE?
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The South
Dakota Council of Higher Education is your collective bargaining
representative. We negotiate directly
with the Board of Regents staff on your contract. We service that contract for all faculty, but
provide additional services for our dues-paying members. In particular, we provide mentoring and
career advice, which is not available anywhere else in the university.
Our membership
has been growing in recent years.
Several campuses report a doubling of the number of members in the last
four years. We expect to continue
growing so that we can enhance our efforts as the voice for higher education
and the special schools in South Dakota.
We need your
voice and your dues! We need you to
stand up and be counted as one who supports the power of many. Members join for all sorts of reasons,
including job protection, educators employment liability insurance, a
collective voice on higher education, and substantial discounts on consumer
benefits. (http://sdcohe.org)
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Meet Our Members ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathie Courtney Associate Professor of Health Education, Northern State University
Chapter President, NSU-COHE
"I joined COHE because I saw a lack of action on our campus
in regard to creating a new workload policy. When I discovered that COHE
was responsible for creating the new policy I decided if I wanted to get it
done I had better join COHE. Since I joined last year I have discovered
many other issues that have grabbed my attention and I am working diligently to
try to make things better for the faculty on my campus. I encourage all
faculty to join COHE as there truly is power in numbers and we are sorely in need
of more members."
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THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE ...
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We have all heard of ratemyprofesser.com (http://www.ratemyprofessors.com). Welcome to the next generation of social networking
to "help" students. Koofers.com, a study
aid Website, advertises it makes old tests available to students. (From where are they getting these exams?) Moreover, we have heard it has begun to use
state Freedom of Information Act requests to access course grades for every
section of every course at some universities.
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UPCOMING EVENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Saturday, October 24, State COHE Board, Al's Oasis, Oacoma, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. SDEA President Sandy Arsenault will attend! All members are invited to attend. We will reimburse your costs.
Next Friday, October 30, , SDSU-COHE Chapter Meeting with SDEA Executive Director Bryce Healy, Pugsley Hall 203, SDSU, Brookings, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
December 18 (Fri.), DSU-COHE Chapter Meeting with state COHE President Gary Aguiar, Place: TBA, DSU, Madison, 11:00 a.m.
January 29 & 30, 2010 (Fri. & Sat.), SDEA Bargaining
Conference, Pierre. All members are encouraged to attend. Planning has begun for this event!
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"Investing in
professors yields significant returns" Letter to the Editor by Gary Aguiar
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August 1, 2009
Dear Argus Leader Editor,
I was pleased to read Sen. Frank Kloucek's guest column in
the Argus Leader (June 13, 2009) and related letters. I agree that Pres. David Chicoine is a
talented administrator who deserves the money he earns from our state.
By the same logic, we should also pay the people who work in
the trenches of our higher education system what they are worth. We should invest the most where the rubber
meets the road, that is, in the professors who undertake the actual work to
improve our future workforce.
This year, SDSU is celebrating the life work of Theodore W.
Schultz (1902 - 1998), who won the Nobel Prize in Economics thirty years
ago. Dr. Schultz, who was born near
Arlington, SD, graduated from South Dakota State College in 1927 and is the
only Jackrabbit Alumnus to win a Nobel Prize. He won the prize by showing that human
capital-investment in the education of people-is the single greatest asset that
a rural economy possesses.
Higher education produces citizens with the skills and
abilities that are much in demand in the 21st century information
age. To produce the best college
graduates, we need to recruit and retain the best faculty to teach and develop
those skills.
Over the past decade, I have come to know and respect my
faculty colleagues who are truly dedicated employees. They love their work and commit countless
hours to educating students. Many are
native to the region, sons and daughters of the pioneers who first settled the
prairie a century ago. Others
consciously decided to move to these parts, because they wanted to raise their
families in the safe, high-quality rural environment that South Dakota
offers. These people put down deep roots
and are valued members of their communities, where they play active roles in civic
and service clubs, amateur sports teams, churches, and local schools.
Thus, it was very disappointing for us to learn that state policymakers
decided to provide no increase in salary for the coming school year. For the last dozen years, the Board of
Regents has made tremendous strides to bring faculty salaries to within reach
of the regional average. Now, as Montana,
North Dakota, and Minnesota continue to increase their professors' pay, South
Dakota will give up some of those gains.
I understand that many of your readers may think that
faculty are overpaid and underworked, because we teach "only twelve hours" per
week and we have "summers off." I wish I
had time to sit down with each individual who believes that is true, because I
would like to explain.
To prepare for the knowledge-hungry, demanding students we
see every semester requires more than rehashing old lectures. Our students expect and deserve full
engagement with the ideas we introduce.
Moreover, teaching is only one part of our obligations. As the universities gear up to exploit
research opportunities, it is the faculty who are on the frontlines performing
that work.
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