Catholic University Faculty Assembly Shares its Opinion on Professor Salaries

By Thomas Holmes

Catholic University’s Faculty Assembly gathered for its monthly meeting to discuss matters regarding faculty salaries, the Academic Senate, and the exploration of the idea of creating a chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Professors from several schools including the School of Engineering, Music, Theological and Religious Studies, and Arts and Sciences attended the meeting in Curley Hall on April 16.

The first item on the agenda for the meeting was the discussion of faculty salaries. Members of the Faculty Assembly voiced their complaints regarding how low the average professor salaries at Catholic University are in comparison to President Garvey and Provost Abela’s salaries.

Members of the Executive Board for the Faculty Assembly presented a PowerPoint presentation with statistics from the AAUP’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2017-18. The statistics showed that professors from Catholic University are being paid less than the national average professor salary, as well as being paid on average some of the lowest salaries for professors in the D.C. area.

The report from the AAUP also mentions administrative salaries which the Faculty Assembly discussed in length. The presentation included information about President Garvey and Provost Abela’s salaries. On average, presidents of colleges and universities make around 4.78 times the amount of the average full-time faculty members at their institutions. According to the Faculty Assembly’s data, President Garvey makes 7.44 times the average faculty member.

The Faculty Assembly also discussed the issue of the University possibly erroneously reporting its endowment funds. According to the NACUBO-TIAA Endowment Survey and U.S. News Rankings, the school’s endowment is around $330 million; a total that the members present did not seem to agree with.

The next item on the agenda was the possibility of the professors starting a chapter of the AAUP. The professors debated whether or not to pay the fee to become a part of the nationwide organization that helps create standards for professor employer relationships.The rest of the meeting consisted of discussions about a previous statement made about the firing of Dr. McKenna, Student Government, and the Academic Senate. The next meeting will be on May 8. For more information on the Faculty Assembly, click here.