I am a proud faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, but I have already “felt the pain” from the poor economy. I haven’t gotten a merit or cost of living raise in over five years. Tuition has been raised so much because of state budget cuts that it is excluding lower-income students. Then came last year’s pay cutting “furloughs.” Now Governor Walker wants you to believe that slashing benefits and taking away employee rights will benefit the state.
Here’s the truth: UW salaries are already so low compared to other universities that we now have problems hiring qualified faculty. For my position, I lived in poverty for seven years of graduate school to qualify for a job I love. I work hard to prepare and constantly improve my classes, help students, and support the university’s programs. It hurts and alarms me to hear Walker’s supporters demean us as parasites who live off the taxpayers. Not only are we also taxpayers who contribute our fair share to state revenues, our real salaries are much, much lower than the inflated figures the conservative media has been ranting about. They ignore how the benefits exist to compensate for non-competitive salaries.
Walker’s budget will make us unable to hire and retain the faculty and staff for the quality education we offer. UW-Parkside enables young people to stay close to home, pay a reasonable price for higher education, and become more successful and productive citizens. Let’s please try to preserve that opportunity for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment