Survey: Overwhelming number of faculty support giving up merit raises to help reduce the number of professors and staffers let go

The survey included a 40 percent response rate from faculty, meaning 1,274 who received the questions answered the five questions. 

The Faculty Senate expressed its concern about the magnitude of Texas A&M's proposed cuts, the necessity for reallocations and the advisability of awarding merit raises when jobs are being lost by instructional faculty and staff. 

Highlights include:

• Survey says A&M faculty (82 percent of the 1,274 who responded) would rather forego a merit raise rather than allow their peers and staff members to be let go under proposed budget cuts.

• 64 percent said they'd be willing to do so for two years.

• 80 percent said they don't support the administration's proposal to make additional budget reductions beyond those required by the state to create funds for reallocation to support strategic initiatives.

• 75 percent said they'd support making merit raises available to the lowest-paid employees to offset the $60-70 monthly increase in health insurance premiums. 

Organizers of the study said that to gauge the opinion of the entire University faculty on these issues, the Faculty Senate conducted the  poll of faculty.

 A statement released by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate stated the following: 

• The committee believes these results clearly demonstrate the concerns of the faculty. The faculty are very troubled by the impact of reallocations on the core teaching mission of the University because of the number of faculty that will be lost.  Moreover, these proposed reallocations have neither been clearly stated nor justified.

• While the employees of Texas A&M are very deserving of merit raises, especially after the lack of any such raise this past year, we believe the faculty are speaking strongly that they are willing to forego part or all of their deserved merit raises in order to preserve jobs and to preserve the ability of the University to maintain its core teaching mission. The extent of the proposed cuts simply appears too massive and too debilitating to do otherwise.

 • Given the increase in the cost of living, and the lack of any merit raise this past year, the faculty are also strongly in favor of ensuring that merit raises be maintained for the lowest paid employees of the University, regardless of whether or not raises are awarded to the more highly paid faculty.

For more on this story, read tomorrow's Eagle. 

Join the conversation by going to The Eagle's Facebook page to comment: http://www.facebook.com/bcseagle?ref=ts