Assistant to president receives raise, added responsibilities
| STEPHANIE DAVIS Assistant Campus Editor A relocation of the Office of Special Programs has resulted in a hefty raise for one administrator. James C. Brown, formerly the assistant to the president of minority advancement, has been given a pay raise of $11,600 a year as a result of his title change to executive director of minority advancement and special programs. University President William V. Muse said, "We have had, in the division of student affairs, an Office of Special Programs that dealt primarily with undergraduate minority students. So as we looked at this program over last year, we decided to move the special programs division under Brown," he said. "This gave him significantly more responsibility, so we changed his title and adjusted his salary to be more consistent with that of other people or executive directors reporting to the president," Muse said. Brown's job description and responsibilities have changed with hopes of increasing the diversity of Auburn's students, faculty and staff. Muse said, "Auburn is under a federal court order to increase the diversity of its student body, faculty and staff." "This basically means attracting more black students, faculty and staff. We have been working very hard at that," he said. "When I came here in 1992, I established Brown's position. He is the first person Auburn has ever had in that kind of a position. He has provided leadership for our efforts which have been very successful," Muse said. "(Brown) has concentrated primarily on graduate students and increasing opportunities for them to attend graduate school and has attained a tremendous amount of funds from federal agencies and foundations to increase the number of scholarships to minority students," Muse said. |  BROWN All special programs activities are now under minority advancement, which Brown controls. He said he will still be working closely with student affairs. "We are going to take a multitude of actions to increase African-American awareness of the opportunities out there," Brown said. "We will provide African-Americans with the skills to make the transition from college into the real world," he said. Some of the programs Brown will now be responsible for are Black History Month, the recognition banquet, the Black Student Union and Martin Luther King Day, according to Bettye Burkhalter, interim vice president for student affairs. "We will coordinate very closely with Brown's office and our office. It strengthens the team to have his expertise as a part," she said. Muse said Brown will now have full responsibility for all programs for black students, faculty and staff. "That is a significant expansion of his responsibility, and both the change in title and the adjustment of salary were a result of that," he said. "I think Brown has done a great job. He has enabled us to do some things we would not have been able to do otherwise, and I think we are really making some good progress under this court order which will be in effect for a total of 10 years," Muse said. |
Pay hike possible for AU employees
| BEN NEWBERN Staff Writer Auburn's faculty and staff may finally receive that elusive pay raise. As part of the University's 1996-97 budget, the University's Board of Trustees is expected to give an across-the-board salary increase on Friday in an effort to align faculty salaries with those of other universities across the nation. The board is likely to pass a 3 percent pay raise for University employees, making it the first cost-of-living raise in three years. The plan will also allow equity pay raises among the individual colleges and departments in the University. One-third of needed funds for the across-the-board raise will come from the 1 percent reduction of college budgets. The remaining two-thirds will come from the new money brought in by the newly-instituted 4.7 percent tuition hike approved in June and implemented this fall. Also, the plan allows the individual colleges to take care of equity problems. Colleges, if they are able, will be allowed to give equity pay raises to employees bringing their salaries in line with the pay of others at the same rank. The pay raise comes at the same time the University Faculty Senate plans to report that University employees' salaries are too low. John Grover, senate chairman and professor of fisheries and allied aquaculture, said the November meeting of the Faculty Senate will include the release of a report by Barry Burkhart, professor of psychology and chairman of the Faculty Compensation Committee. The report's findings are expected to confirm that Auburn has low employee pay and suffers from salary compression. Salary compression occurs when employees are hired and then receive little or no equity raises because of lack of funds. When employees are hired at other universities and receive higher pay, salary compression occurs. With the support of University President William V. Muse, the plan is an attempt to bring Auburn faculty pay in line with other secondary institutions across the nation, Grover said Auburn ranks in the lowest 20th percentile in faculty salary among colleges and universities. | "It doesn't help. It sort of defeats the purpose of (President Muse's) motive, which I think is primarily to increase morale. It's not a large raise, but its an attempt," Burkhart said. Grover said the raise is "a grateful token, and one that the faculty will gladly accept." Sentiment toward the equity raise is mixed, as some colleges and departments in the University simply don't have sufficient funds for an equity raise. "It's going to be 'inequitable' equity raises," Burkhart said. Burkhart also said he disapproved of the cuts and handling of secondary education by Gov. Fob James and the state legislature. "Alabama spends about two-thirds per student credit hour, as does Georgia and Florida. We're now even below Mississippi," he said. The pay raise is seen by many not as a game of catch-up, but as Grover said, "At this point, its (about) not falling further behind." Moreover, because this is the first across-the-board raise in three years, it is an attempt to remain even with inflation for just one of those three years. "It's not even coming close to making up, but it's essentially the best (President Muse) can do," Burkhart said. "He recognizes we're at 88 percent of the national average. If Auburn is going to be a national university, it's going to have to be a nationally competitive school. It's going to have to recruit people at a national level. We're behind and falling further behind. "The Auburn family has recognized that Auburn is an unusual institution. It is the cheapest place that you can get a degree and one of the best. So, it goes to this unusual combination. What's happening is we're being stretched to the breaking," Burkhart said. Provost and vice president of Academic Affairs Paul Parks announced the possibility of the raise at the Aug. 15 meeting of the University Senate. If passed, the raise would go into effect, diverting back to Oct. 1, 1996, the beginning of the 1996-97 fiscal year. |
Renovations make auditorium more comfortable
| KATIE HAZELTINE Staff Writer Faculty and students with classes in Haley Center 2370 will have the benefit of a newly renovated lecture hall this year. As the result of an in-house project which began in June 1996 and lasting through late September 1996, room 2370 now boasts many new and modern amenities. Greg Parsons of the Auburn Facilities Division said, "Renovations were necessary for the comfort and benefit of the students." The room, which has not been renovated since the late 1960s, received new lighting and seating under the direction of Laura McDonald, the interior designer for the project. Parsons said, "We like to use an interior designer for most projects on campus to provide a consistency throughout the campus. The interior designers are not just picking a color or pattern because they like it Ñ they have more specialized knowledge." Three hundred and fifty new seats and more spacious aisles replace the older, more crowded conditions. Brighter lighting can now be controlled by a touch sensitive screen. The stage has been made accessible to wheelchairs, and audience seating for the handicapped is now available. "(University) Telecommunications provided a great deal of assistance in making Haley Center 2370 a high-tech classroom. The audio-visual and telecommunications technology make the teaching environment more effective for the professors," Parsons said. |  JAMES H. BANKER/Photo Staff Bob Cooley of University Telecommunications said, "The new room is designed to be as flexible as possible for accommodating different faculty members' teaching methods." A new liquid crystal projector mounted on the ceiling has the ability to display computer texts, is connected to the campus computer network and has VCR recording capabilities. A new slide projector with an electronic pick-up element has replaced the previous projector, which required a person in the back of the room to change the slides. The sound system has also been updated. "The renovations have made a universe of difference," said David Sutton, an assistant professor of communication who teaches two COM 100 classes in the room. Sutton said that before the renovation, "I used to tell people that it's a cave, a very dark space. It had terrible lighting and was especially dark in the back of the room. Now I like the fact that everything works." Sutton said the renovation has made the room "more conducive to learning for the students." Total construction cost for the project was approximately $240,000. |
