The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 8, 1987 -Page 3
Merit criteria unclear
to faculty, survey says
Daily Photo by SCOTT LITUCHY,
By WENDY SHARP
Forty percent of faculty
members are uninformed about
University merit review criteria and
20 percent believe there are no
criteria, according to a survey
released yesterday.
The survey, called "Merit
Criteria and Review Procedures," is
the second part of a three-part study
by the Committee on the Economic
Status of the Faculty.
T H E survey measures the
faculty understanding of what is
necessary to get a departmental
salary increase: Sixty percent of the
faculty responded.
There were no differences in
understanding merit review by rank
and gender of faculty members. But
ethnic differences were apparent.
Sixty-two percent of Asian
professors that responded to the
survey said they had little or no
information about merit criteria.
Most Black faculty members who
responded, 55.3 percent, also said
they had little knowledge of merit
criteria. Only 39.7 of white faculty
members felt they had inadequate
information.
ANOTH ERenoticable
difference about awareness of merit
criteria is between various schools.
Eighty-eight percent of faculty in
the law school had littlecor no
information on merit review criteria
compared to 3.3 percent in the
School of Social Work.
More than half of the faculty,
55.9 percent, wanted more
emphasis placed on the quality of
teaching. Twenty-nine percent of
the respondents wanted less
emphasis placed on research
support.
Most respondents, 80.4 percent,
said merit criteria are applied
equitably in departments. Faculty
also believe they are judged
according to the amount of work
they put in.
EUGENE Feingold, chair of
the CESF, said perceptions of
minority faculty are difficult to
determine since there are so few
minority faculty members at the
University. He also said minority
faculty are more involved in
committee work for which they do
not receive compensation.
Feingold said minority
perceptions are "clearly a problem
area."
Roy Penchansky, a member of
the CESF, said that faculty
perceptions differed among schools
because of their different
organizations. In schools where a
hierarchical structure is dominant,
administrators do not communicate
as well with faculty, Penchansky
said.
D E A N of the School of
Business Administration Gilbert
Whitaker said the survey measures
faculty perceptions and therefore
may not be accurate. Faculty may
be "unhappy with a raise they get
and might say they don't understand
criteria," he said.
Of the respondents who were
discontent with their salary, 33.6
percent said they never considered
leaving the University for salary
reasons, and 18.7 percent said they
seldom considered it.
Over half of the faculty
respondents (51.3 percent) said
University compensation is fair,
and 43.5 percent said it was less
than fair.
WHITAKER said the survey
measures only relative perceptions
when faculty compare their own
salary with their peers. "Perceptions
are hard to track down," he said.
Penchansky agrees; he said the
Cleaning up
Robert Calcut, a University custodian, collects the trash left outside the Law Quad doors.
Faculty react to strike threat
survey aptly distinguished between
faculty discontent with salary and
information on merit criteria. "It's
not just people saying everything's
bad," he said. "Perceptions are
important."
Dean James Crowfoot, from the
School of Natural Resources, said
he found the survey helpful. "I
thought the survey was done
thoughtfully and systematically,"
Crowfoot said. "I found the
information extremely important
and will share it with the executive
committee of my school."
Harris McClamroch, chair of the
Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs, said the survey
results are important. He said the
University administration should
address faculty perceptions on merit
criteria and "SACUA will do what
it can to bring it to their attention."
McClamroch said one of SACUA's
top priorities next year will be to
address the study.
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By WENDY SHARP
The battle between the Graduate
Employees Organization and the
University could have pitted
professors against teaching
assistants. But many TAs found
professors supportive when the
negotiations ended yesterday
without a strike.
Some professors had decided to
meet GEO requests and said they
would have refused to teach in a
University building if a strike
occured.
Norma Diamond, professor of
anthropology, said she would have
held her classes at home and
scheduled a car-pool for students to
get there. "It's a sign of support. I
was taught in my childhood to
never cross a picket line," she said.
Diamond was responding to a
GEO letter sent to all professors on
Monday asking for support by
either cancelling class, moving
class to an off-campus location, or
discussing the strike in class to
prevent "business as usual."
Bert Hornback, English
professor, said he agreed with the
TAs' demands but not with a strike.
"The administration are being
bastards about it (negotiations)," he
added.
Many professors supported the
GEO but were unsure of what
action to take in event of a strike.
Peter Baulane, associate
professor of English, said the
possible strike put him in a
dilemma: "I'm in a very
uncomfortable situation. I support
the graduate students, but I feel a
loyalty to the undergraduates."
Raymond Tanter, political
science professor, said he wanted to
meet the needs of both teaching
assistants and students. He said he
wanted to support the TAs but was
concerned about his undergraduate
students.
Tanter said his department had
asked him to teach extra classes to
compensate for the potential TA
loss, but he refused because he felt
that would undermine the TAs'
demands.
The Senate Advisory Committee
on University Affairs did not
support either the GEO or the
administration, according to chair
Harris McClamroch. "Taking a
particular stand would be very
counterproductive," he said. "The
faculty is caught in the middle."
II
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(Continued from Page 1)
crushing her opponent in 1985, said
she is still "in a state of shock"
from the election results. "I feel
like there's a message, here, but I
don't know what it is," she said. "It
may be that voters want us to deal
with getting the streets cleaned and
the more basic city services before
we do anything else."
LEADERS from both parties
attributed Pierce's loss to
overconfidence, his close political
affiliation with the Nicaraguan
Sister City Task Force, and his
inability to reduce the city's rising
crime rate.
"I don't think people felt Pierce
was as hungry to be mayor as
Jernigan was," Edgren said.
Pierce admitted he had expected
his name recognition among Ann
Arbor voters to insure his re-
election. "I expected to win. I didn't
think I could lose," said Pierce,
who has also served as a
councilmember and state senator.
Democratic leaders said yesterday
they expect to appoint Ann Arbor
Democratic Party Chairman Dave
DeVarti to fill Jernigan's empty
Fourth Ward council seat. DeVarti,
who came within 42 votes of
upsetting Jernigan in last year's
council race, said he will accept the
post, if it is offered.
STHE IS
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
Campus Cinema Mary Street Alinder- "Ansel
Adams: One With Beauty," 8:10 p.m.,
Rebel Without A Cause (N. Ray, Angell Hall, Auditorium A.
1954), Hill St., 8:00 p.m., Hill St. Meetings
James Dean plays an alienated teen
who can't relate either to his father or
to the "cool" kids at school in this Baha'i Club- 5 p.m., Michigan
fine but overrated film. Union.
Batman (Leslie Martinson, 1966), U of M Commission for
MTF, DBL/7:00 p.m., Mich. Women- noon, IST, 6th Floor
The Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, Conference Room, North Campus.
and the Catwoman threaten Gotham Barrier-Free Computer User
City, and it's up to those two wealthy, Group- 7 p.m., Michigan League,
unmarried men who live together and 3rd Floor.
rarely part company, to stop them. LASC- 8 p.m., 1407 Mason Hall.
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World LSA Student Government- 6
(Stanley Kramer, 1963), MTF, p.m., Michigan Union, MSA
DBL/9:00 p.m., Mich. Chambers, 3rd Floor.
Almost every comedy persona of the ROTC Action Group- 5 p.m.,
last 50 years get involved in a zany, 4003 Michigan Union.
slapstick search for buried treasure. Sid
Ceasar.
Send announcements of up-
Performances coming events to "The List," co
The Michigan Daily, 420
U of M Arts Chorale- 8 p.m., Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.,
Hill Auditorium, (763-4726). 48109. Include all pertinent in-
formation and a contact phone
Speakers number. We must receive an-
nouncements for Fri4ay and
Dr. Gary C. Mc Donald-"Some Sunday events at least two weeks
. Statistical Design Aspects of before the event, and announ-
--
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