The BOG decision partly conflicted with an announcement by UNC-CH Provost Robert Shelton at the Faculty Council meeting Friday. At the meeting Shelton said faculty pay raises, funded by a $300 campus-initiated tuition increase passed by the BOG in March, will be given to faculty who are particularly deserving or who are in danger of being lured away by other universities.
The wording of the resolution, however, has left some University leaders confused as to its impact.
Moeser said there is a great deal of misunderstanding about the meaning and effect of the BOG decision. "The policy they established is for this year only, and a result of the fact there is so little money available."
Sue Estroff, UNC-CH Faculty Council chairwoman, said, "It's pretty complicated and loopy actually." Estroff said the impact on the University depends on how "market and equity" are interpreted.
The resolution suggests that campuses give raises to faculty they are most worried will be recruited by other universities, Estroff said. She said, however, that usually these are the same faculty members who are most meritorious. "To me, marketability and merit are the same thing," she said.
"I can safely say nobody on campus is happy about it," Estroff added. "Quite frankly, I think the whole thing stinks.
"(The BOG has) reduced the amount we can charge for tuition, and even with the meager amount we have, they are telling us what to do with it," she said.
The UNC-CH Board of Trustees originally passed a $400 tuition increase in January, but the BOG reduced it to $300.
Estroff also said she is concerned that restrictions on faculty pay raises are occurring after such a productive year for most departments. "You expect to see something positive come from it. It hurts when this happens year after year after year," she said. "People get understandably discouraged. ... It accumulates over time."
