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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
UNM Top Salaries Frozen
By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
Amid criticism from lawmakers and a possible no-confidence vote by faculty, University of New Mexico President David Schmidly announced Monday a freeze in executive salaries — including his own — and cuts in administrative spending.
Schmidly, who earns about $587,000 a year in salary and other perks, said UNM will reduce nonacademic administrative spending on the main campus by 15 percent over the next three years.
He pledged, during the same period, to add at least 10 full-time, tenure-track faculty positions, in hopes of sending the message that UNM is focusing its resources on teaching and research and away from nonacademic administration.
Schmidly also promised:
n An indefinite freeze of pay raises for himself and UNM's two executive vice presidents and eight regular vice presidents on main campus. The freeze includes athletics, but not the Health Sciences Center.
n A freeze of all compensation increases through June 30, 2010, for all other main campus nonacademic administrative staff earning more than $125,000 a year.
n Creation of a comprehensive universitywide policy governing deferred compensation that will be submitted to regents in April. The Journal reported this month that David Harris, UNM's executive vice president for administration, was given an extra $50,000 in deferred compensation in July.
Schmidly notified faculty, staff and students of the moves in an e-mail Monday.
"In today's difficult economic climate, it's more important than ever that we concentrate our efforts on the things that matter most — teaching and research," Schmidly said in a news release.
UNM spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said the university doesn't know yet how much the new measures will save, nor has it figured out exactly how it will accomplish the 15 percent savings.
She said the announcement wasn't prompted by the ongoing criticism of executive compensation but rather by the revenue shortfall the state is facing.
The university already had adopted a series of cost-cutting measures in November, when it appeared that declining state revenues would mean less money during the current fiscal year.
"Because of the deepening crisis, we decided this is the time to take the next steps," McKinsey said.
Faculty, staff and students had been critical of Schmidly and his administration's compensation packages, particularly since the November cost-cutting measures.
Some faculty have even begun discussing a possible no-confidence vote against Schmidly and others. They have started e-mailing a petition to convene a general faculty meeting to entertain a no-confidence vote. If 5 percent of the faculty sign the petition, the meeting will be convened.
Lawmakers also have raised concern about UNM's executive compensation.
"This is a great first step and good news for those of us who have been concerned about executive compensation," state Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, said in the UNM news release. "The university's willingness to assess and adjust its business model is appreciated by all."
McSorley said he wished UNM would return to a system in which deans did much of the work vice presidents are now hired to do.
"I don't think we need that extra layer of bureaucracy in the university," he said. "I think we've now proved that in the American business financial model, and we don't need it in higher education. I think that if we would spend more money on teaching and research, we'd be better off at our university."
A UNM study done last year found that it spent $4.1 million more on executive salaries in 2008 than it did in 2002, a 71 percent increase. The study did not include the Health Sciences Center or athletics.
Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque, said in the release, "Though I had concerns about executive compensation, I am heartened to see that the university is taking the lead and revisiting old policies."
UNM Staff Council President Loyola Chastain applauded the move to freeze executive salaries, but said staff are concerned about the 15 percent reduction in non-academic administrative spending.
"Those are great steps in the right direction," faculty Senate President Howard Snell said. "I'm really glad to see that we're proposing to do those sorts of things. There's more that we need to do, and this isn't going to solve all of our problems. ... The faculty Senate looks forward to helping President Schmidly work out the details on some of this stuff."
It's unclear how much UNM and other state agencies will lose in state funding for the current fiscal year. The state solvency plan is still making its way through the Legislature. But Schmidly said in his e-mail that he thinks UNM has saved enough through the November cost-saving measures to offset the cuts.
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