CSU Pueblo Faculty Senate resolution seeks to address compensation concerns
A resolution to address faculty compensation concerns at Colorado State University Pueblo was adopted by the CSU Pueblo Faculty Senate on Monday, Feb. 20.
The adopted resolution includes three components: a proposed 8% cost of living increase for faculty member salaries in fiscal 2024, prioritization of "missing" raises for faculty promoted before 2017, and development of a plan to address all salary inequities. Following adoption by the CSU Pueblo Faculty Senate, the nonbinding resolution will be presented to the CSU Board of Governors at a future meeting.
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Adoption of the resolution came less than three weeks after faculty members voiced concerns about their compensation at a "teach-in" event hosted by the CSU Pueblo American Association of University Professors chapter.
History professor and AAUP member Judy Gaughan presented an initial resolution to faculty senate at the Feb. 20 meeting. The initial resolution contained nine paragraphs. It was later amended to summarize the three requests presented by the AAUP.
"The struggles of faculty, as a result of inadequate compensation, have a direct impact on students," the resolution states. "No faculty member should be forced between struggling to survive and serving the very students many of us came to CSU Pueblo to serve. Ignoring the basic needs of faculty is sinking our ship."
The initial resolution argues for the 8% cost of living increase and alludes to stories shared by faculty at the teach-in. It references multiple professors who work second jobs, struggling to pay bills, and one professor who donates plasma to "make ends meet."
The section on missing raises references a 2017 revision to the Faculty Handbook that includes automatic $2,000, $6,000 and $8,000 salary increases for faculty promoted to assistant professors, associate professors and full professors, respectively.
Faculty members do not receive salary increases for promotions that occurred before the 2017 revision, but the resolution argues that the handbook does not provide exclusion for faculty promoted before the revision.
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"The funding priority for any pool of funds designated to faculty salaries must be applied to faculty who were promoted prior to 2017," according to the adopted resolution. "A difference in promotion amounts must be applied to the base salary with commensurate fringe benefits."
The resolution's third request calls for the university to "develop a plan to fully fund the closing of all remaining salary inequities" and present the plan to the CSU Pueblo Faculty Compensation Committee. Votes to adopt the resolution were nearly unanimous. George Dallam, exercise science professor and Faculty Compensation Committee chair, abstained from voting.
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached by email at JBartolo@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: CSU Pueblo Faculty Senate seeks to address compensation concerns
