Dionte Berry
Editor-in-Chief
dberry11@murraystate.edu
The Board of Regents unanimously voted for a 3% salary increase for faculty and staff along with the new budget for the 2022-2023 academic year and housing revamp pre-development plans.
Budget and salary increase
The 3% salary increase coincides with the concerns of the Murray State Chapter of the United Campus Workers of Kentucky who recently approved their platform advocating for workers’ needs.
The Murray State Union became active during the spring 2022 semester advocating living wages and affordable healthcare for all campus workers, support for parents and caregivers on campus and respect and safety for all campus workers.
Associate History Professor Aaron Irvin, Associate Art History Professor Antje Gamble and Institutional Review Board Coordinator, Shelly Baskin represented the Murray State union at Friday’s meeting, requesting a 10% cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase for all campus workers.
Irvin said although the cost of living has been rising, campus workers have not seen a wage increase in over a decade.
“Under president Jackson’s tenure university employees have already been dealt an 8.7% cut to their wages meanwhile housing costs have risen 18.1% in the last 36 months in Calloway alone,” Irvin said. “The rise in the cost of living over the last 12 months stands between seven to 8.5% … most of us make less now than when we were hired.”
Irvin said the 3% COLA that the administration had planned for would account for less than half of the rise in the cost of living.
Campus worker retention was another point brought to the floor, which could affect overall faculty, staff and student retention which has been emphasized after the results of the 2021-22 Staff Perspective Survey revealed that 42.52% of staff have considered leaving the University. Students account for 71% of Murray State’s income.
“In the long term we ask the board of regents to commit to implementing a standard yearly budget adjustment that codifies the annual cost of living adjustments linked to the statewide cost of living increases that will help with both faculty and staff retention but also with student retention,” Irvin said.
Baskin talked about the University’s recent finances and said according to the Union’s findings that a raise could be afforded, and that department budgets should be getting reduced.
“In the recent University’s audits and bonds we see the University has been steadily growing its assets…cash, reserves and investments are the highest they have ever been are debt ratio is great, everything looks good and yet we are told to cut department budgets and that we won’t receive a raise that matches inflation,” Baskin said.
Gamble represented student workers saying that whenever raises are a part of the conversation, student workers are never included.
“Student workers are the only job class that gets zero raise in the budget…the majority of student workers are paid the federal minimum wage which is $7.25 per hour just as a reminder that minimum wage was set at $7.25 in 2009, over a decade ago,” Gamble said.
Along with adding student workers to conversations regarding campus worker wages, Gamble said student worker wage theft is another issue that needs to be discussed.
“Student workers can only work 20 hours per week on the books, but their jobs often demand more, they are forced to work unpaid hours or face reprimanding from supervisors or even put their financial aid at risk if they go over 20 hours,” Gamble said.
Following the Murray State Union’s public participation session there was not any direct discussion amongst the Regents, but during his evaluation session President Bob Jackson said the results for the staff perspective survey was gathered during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic which may have influenced the results.
“The staff survey that has been referenced is from fiscal year 2021 right in the middle of the pandemic, that was the last survey referenced that says a number of people thought of leaving their jobs,” Jackson said. “Probably all of us thought about leaving our jobs at one point in time, I did more than once.”
Concerning Murray State’s overall budget the 2022-2023 budget has increased 7.5% from the 2021-2022 budget totalling the increase to around $11.5 million creating a spending plan of around $159 million. The salary portion of the budget was increased by around $4 million.
In the new salary budget there is a $2 million contingency which was attributed to the 3% COLA increase.
Following the approval of the budget and salary increase Regent Jessica Evans said that the wage increase should not be referred to as COLA but as a salary increase, because it does not follow national cost of living increases.
Regent’s Co-chair Don Tharpe said the unpredictability of revenue was another reason as to why making salary increases comes with obstacles.
Along with the faculty and staff wage increase for faculty and staff there will be a 5.8% increase for meal plans and a .75% increase in campus housing rates.
President Bob Jackson’s Contract
President Bob Jackson’s contract has been extended for a year after he received positive reviews from the Board and highlighted his own achievements during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Assessments from the Regents along with Jackson’s own self assessment was read aloud.
“Dr. Jackson is viewed by the Board as a well rounded president and an enthusiastic and articulate promoter of Murray State values and mission,” Chair Eric Crigler read.
The assessments praised Jackson for being student oriented, helping maintain Murray State’s good standing with national publications, maintaining good government relations and acting quickly during the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the positive assessments Regent Evans said the sense of campus shared governance could be strengthened.
“As a member of an ex-officio group of a shared governance group on campus I do think that there could be more opportunities to enhance the overall shared governance on campus,” Evans said. “When it comes to committee work … there are times when committees are not as clear on their goals and objectives … so I highlight that as another area that can be improved.”
After the Board voted to unanimously approve Jackson’s contract as president for another year Jackson took time to highlight the challenges Murray State has faced surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as further rebuttal the claims made by the Murray State Union.
“The last two and a half years have been a unique time for all of us and we have maneuvered through it weekly, daily and hourly,” Jackson said.
Private Public Partnership (P3): Housing Revamp
The pre-development plans with RISE Real Estate for (P3) construction was unanimously approved by the Board.
The Board’s Finance Committee met on Thursday, May 26 to discuss the plans before they were brought to the rest of the Board.
The pre-development plans will start with the razing of Springer Residential College. Hart Hall is set to be razed and replaced by two residential halls that will stand north of Hart Hall and will both hold approximately 300 students each. Winslow Hall too is set to be replaced.
Lastly the plan will address what will be done to Regents and R.H. White Halls which are both set to be razed.
With the approval of the plan RISE Real Estate will work toward approving the designs set forth. The pre-development plans will be set in motion toward the end of the Fall 2022 semester.
Updates on the plan will be further discussed at the next quarterly Board of Regents meeting on Sept. 9.