The latest chapter in the deterioration of faculty-administration relations reared its ugly head recently when the Faculty Welfare Committee hired an independent economist to evaluate the university’s finances. Perhaps this ongoing struggle between our school’s faculty and administration began four years ago, when the administration began the process of imposing “merit pay” upon a resistant faculty.
The problem was aggravated last year when the struggling economy forced the school to postpone the implementation of merit pay and instead give university employees across the board $500 salary increases, as opposed to a normal cost of living adjustment previously negotiated by the members of the faculty.
The report commissioned by the FWC, prepared by Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum, an economist and professor from Wright State University in Ohio, makes a number of interesting points.
Perhaps most important is that the report contends “the financial condition of Fairfield University has deteriorated slightly over the period 1999-2003.” Fichtenbaum came to this conclusion by employing ratios analyzing Fairfield’s assets, long-term debt, expenses, income and revenue. Despite the moderate decline in the financial well-being of Fairfield, the report still contends that the university is in “good financial condition,” citing the school’s $395.2 million in assets and liabilities of only $152 million.
For students, the most notable point in the report is the constant emphasis on how heavily Fairfield depends on tuition and fees, both of which are driven by enrollment. Like any other business, Fairfield provides a product for a consumer: the product is an education, and the consumers are we the students.
As such, we have a right to know how our money is being spent, and a responsibility to communicate to the administration our thoughts on how our money should be spent. With contradictory interpretations of Fairfield’s finances being offered by the faculty and the administration, there is no better time than now for students to get involved more heavily in the process here at Fairfield.
The Mirror would like to encourage FUSA, the protectors of our rights and interests as students, to investigate this matter and hold an open, public meeting with representatives of the administration, the faculty and the student body on Fairfield’s finances and financial health. Judging from the response we have experienced in getting input from the administration and faculty on stories like this, we sincerely believe all sides of this issue would be willing to come to the table to discuss these differences in an open, honest manner, and we sincerely hope that such communication between all parties would result in an amicable solution to such a problem.
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