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Kansas State University

 

Faculty Senante
211 Fairchild Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6053
785-532-5944 (fax)
facsen@k-state.edu

Letter to Al Cochran

 

July 12, 2002

Al Cochran,
President Faculty Senate
Department of Music
CAMPUS

Dear Al,

Since I was not able to attend the June Executive Committee Meeting for Faculty Senate, Gretchen Holden attended in my place. She commented that you would like to have a response by each caucus regarding any concerns of faculty or unclassified professionals of the tuition surcharge for courses in the College of Business Administration and the College of Engineering, which will provide faculty salary increases for these two colleges only.

The General University Caucus did not meet in June, but discussed this issue briefly in our May meeting. The majority of the members agreed that market equity, retention of good faculty, and recruitment of quality faculty were the ultimate goals of proposing this surcharge. Of course, as you recall, the unclassified professionals are accustomed to differential salary increases.

Instead of discussing reasons why or why not to implement a surcharge for these two colleges, we would like to propose the following steps or initiatives to assist in the betterment of those affected by the budget cuts, budget constraints, and continual increases in cost of living with little or no increase in income:

  • Appoint an implementation committee for dependent/spouse tuition waivers
  • Support the payment of health care benefits for early retirement
  • Appoint a task force to develop several options for a cafeteria benefit plan
  • Initiate a task force to investigate, pursue, and follow up on methods to save money and resources across campus (i.e., shared resources, shared personnel, sub-contract services, flex hours, shortened summer work days, etc.)
  • Create ways to keep morale high even in tough times

As with any proposal, unless it is acted upon, it is just a proposal. We hope that one or more of these items might be considered and implemented in order to reduce the negativity across campus, keep the spirits up for all employees, and convince employees that K-State is dedicated and concerned about them.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss these further, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Kelli Cox
Chair, General University Caucus

c: General University Caucus Members