They were dissatisfied with combined compensation, disagreed that cost of living made up for lower salaries, thought raises first should be across the board to keep up with inflation before being used for merit or compression, and agreed that there had not been enough money to do what needed to be done. The faculty was split on whether salary was a motivator but agreed that continued improvement in salary was needed. Half have seriously considered leaving OU due to low salary, and significantly more associate professors have thought about leaving. The point at which it is realistic to consider a breakdown among across the board, merit, and compression is at about four percent. A significant number of open-ended responses were submitted.
Compression seems to be a very serious concern around campus.
Prof. Van Gundy pointed out that the data were subjective and the responses were not broken down by rank, so there really was no way to infer that compression was a problem. He asked whether the comments would be included in the final report and whether the responses would be quantified. Prof. Pace said the comments were sent to the Provost, Budget Council Chair, and Faculty Senate Chair. He said the committee had not quantified the data but could do that. Provost Merger mentioned that the Budget Council had already sent a letter to the President concerning budget recommendations for next year.