Tennessee Tech's Debate Over Professor Pay Reveals Potential Pitfalls Of Self-Governance
Professors at Tennessee Tech say they're seeing some downsides in their freedom from the Board of Regents. Six universities broke away from the state system in the last year. Now they're finalizing their first budgets.
This is uncharted territory for these schools — setting their own tuition increases, deciding on pay raises. The state gave campuses enough for a three percent raise, but schools can use it how they want. At MTSU this month, the trustees unanimously approved a cost-of-living raise to everyone. But Tennessee Tech decided to give faculty and staff one percent, then distribute the rest based on merit.
And board member Johnny Stites, a prominent developer from Cookeville, wanted to go further.
"It's going against what we've been talking about, of being a world-class university with innovation, with great employees, who are compensating the ones who are contributing in meaningful ways, and we're not compensating as well those that are along for the ride," Stites said, adding that he doesn't mind using a mediocre employee's cost-of-living raise to reward someone who is innovating.
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