Mimi Gerstell raises an important question (“Paying higher salaries,” BDN letter, June 27) on faculty salaries. Just how well are faculty doing across the country and in Maine? The answer is not well at all.

From 1972 through 1998 salaries were down between 5 and 10 percent in constant dollars (NCES IPEDS Salary Survey). The AAUP (American Association of University Professors) reports that faculty salaries are up only 0.27 percent in real dollars from 1986 to 2005. Salaries of presidents and chancellors have grown three times faster than faculty salaries since 1996. Other professions with similar educational requirements have exhibited much higher salary growth.

At the University of Maine, for instance, the faculty are among the lowest paid, bottom 10 percentile, in their category (doctoral) in spite of more than a decade of verbal commitment to raise salaries. Out of 220 doctoral institutions, UMaine ranks 209nth in professor salary, faculty at 95 percent of these schools earn more than the faculty at UMaine.

The reality is that many of our students quickly out-earn us after only a few years on the job. UMaine faculty are taking jobs at lower-ranked institutions to receive large pay increases. This is not healthy for the institution or the state.

Jim McClymer

UMaine faculty member

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