Faculty salary cuts, workload policy front and center at University of Missouri faculty meeting

University of Missouri faculty members on Wednesday had a lot to say about salaries of tenured faculty being cut and workload policies being instituted, with remarks addressed to University of Missouri chancellor and system President Mun Choi and MU Provost Latha Ramchand.

The Zoom meeting was dubbed as a follow-up general faculty meeting, with more than 300 participants. Shared governance, providing meaningful input to faculty members in decision-making at the university, was the general topic.

At the General Faculty Meeting last month, Choi introduced the MizzouForward plan to spend $1.5 billion over 10 years, leaving little time for faculty comments.

More: Some MU faculty members complain plan to cut faculty salaries contradicts MizzouForward plan

MU Faculty Council Chairwoman Kate Trauth said she researched the president's authority to reduce faculty salaries and found it in the Collected Rules and Regulations.

"Way back in April 1967, it says the president has this authority," Trauth said. "Whatever we think about the existence of this authority, it has been around for quite a while."

The faculty salary cuts can be compared to the rules being changed in the middle of a football game and made retroactive to change the win-loss record, said faculty member Stephen Karian, with the MU chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

"The rules were changed entirely in secret by your manager," Karian said.

The policy includes factors unrelated to performance, he said.

"They were utterly blindsided," he said of faculty members whose salaries were cut.

The decisions to cut faculty salaries were made retroactively, said medical school faculty member Marc Johnson.

"There was no dissemination of information to the faculty," Johnson said.

"That's a breakdown in communication," Choi responded.

Those faculty members whose salaries were cut were because of performance, Choi said.

Choi was asked about the motivation behind the move.

"Each faculty member must contribute to the university," Choi said. "The salary reductions are only temporary and there are opportunities to change the status moving forward."

The faculty workload guidelines are to be finalized next week, on Dec. 15.

"Inequities in faculty workload became very clear in the pandemic," Ramchand said.

By the end of the academic year, she wants department heads to be able to tell faculty members what their workload expectations are, Ramchand said.

"Conversations will go on beyond Dec. 15," Ramchand said. "Flexibility is going to be the core of this."

The guidelines are important, Choi said.

More: University of Missouri suspends COVID vaccine mandate for faculty, staff and student employees

"This exercise in workload policy is to ensure equity," he said.

The faculty tenure process is also being undermined by the administration, said faculty member Martha Kelly. She mentioned the use of data analytics and student comments in tenure reviews.

"This troubling and lopsided process is negatively affecting promotions as we speak," Kelly said.

Transparency is needed if the administration wants faculty to trust their decisions, said faculty member Rabia Gregory.

She presented the MU AAUP's proposals for improving shared governance.

They include an administration commitment to practice shared governance; genuine opportunities for faculty input; and publishing the changes to policies when they have been made, especially changes to the rules and regulations.

rmckinney@columbiatribune.com

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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: MU faculty express concerns over salary cuts, workload guidelines