Herbert plans to examine salaries

IU President Adam Herbert plans to examine University salaries across the campuses, in particular, staff salaries and the concern for a possible raise as part of his re-evaluation of IU's administrative structure.\nHerbert said he will discuss the matter with the IU board of trustees and will look into what funds are available and where the resources would come from.\n"The board does want to examine salary structure at the University," Herbert said. "The challenge is that there is so much I need to do."\nHerbert referenced the concern about tuition increases as a way to raise staff salaries.\n"Where do we get the money to address these challenges?" he said. "We're living during a period in which the economy of this country has not peaked in a northerly direction and the states have felt the brunt of that."\nJackie Tirey, a production assistant at the IU Press, said the topic of staff salaries comes up often with other staff members. She said she believes many employees aren't compensated properly for their work.\n"I know administrators that make more than $100,000 have a lot of responsibilities, but there are so many people working under them that aren't making what they should," Tirey said. "This problem is definitely not coming from my employers; it's beyond that."\nTirey said with the increasing costs of rent and living in Bloomington, trying to live off of what many staff members receive can be difficult.\n"IU is Bloomington's largest employer, and when you look at the cost of living for so many people versus the salaries, it's next to impossible to afford these costs."\nAlthough administrators play a large role in the University, Tirey said it's important not to forget all of the workers beneath the executives.\n"The University has to be realistic in looking at this," Tirey said. "It doesn't take 20 vice presidents to get the job done. It's the hundreds of people who make phone calls and make sure things are in place that help make IU tick."\nBradley Unger-Levinson, an associate professor in the School of Education, said both the high-end administrators and entry-level workers play an integral role at IU, and the University should redirect resources to raise staff salaries.\n"I'm concerned about the disparities in salaries between the lowest and highest-end employees and what it says about IU as an institution," Levinson said. "I would hope IU wouldn't stand for that as business as usual."\nFor example, IU President Adam Herbert makes $335,000 a year, IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm $261,375 a year and Kelley School of Business Dean Dan Dalton $284,184 a year. The support staff at IU makes between $22,776 and $52,249 a year. The service and maintenance staff makes between $21,070 and $43,222.\nTirey currently earns around $22,000 for her work on the IU support staff, and Levinson earns around $67,500 as a faculty member.\nIU's pay scales are not much different from other Big Ten universities. \nPurdue University staff make between $24,336 and $37,544, while the Purdue service and maintenance staff make between $19,240 and $52,700.\nLevinson said the large gap in pay for staff members could be recovered by lowering top-end administrative salaries and figuring in the new $1,000 fee freshmen are required to pay.\n"Given some of the revenue mechanisms like taxing freshmen and the foundations raising private money, there ought to be a special fund for creating salary increases," Levinson said. "The $1,000 fee that was levied should be partly devoted to staff raises and not just toward creating scholarships and building programs that will put IU on the map."\nEven with the redistribution of executive administrative salaries, Levinson said this isn't realistic enough to make a dent in the thousands of entry-level employees who make such a low salary.\n"IU can hire people and pay little, because of the current market dynamic and sluggish economy, but IU shouldn't play that kind of bottom-line game," Levinson said.\n-- Contact senior writer Maura Halpern at mhalpern@indiana.edu.