Cal Poly has added 53 faculty and 48 staff members over the past academic year, according to a report released from Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong’s office on Feb. 9. Perhaps most surprisingly, the administration also added 21 Management Personnel Plan (MPP) employees – and saw a net decrease of $71,000 in administrative salaries.
A decrease in the salary fund was a result of the reclassification of positions within the levels of MPP, staff and faculty, Armstrong said.
“If you look strictly in the fact book, it says the President’s Office moved from four to eight (employees),” Armstrong said. “We didn’t grow four new MPPs, we simply moved communications from different area so there was zero change in salary dollars in that situation.”
According to Academic Senate Chair Gary Laver, the annual report on administration salary information began with a request made by a committee of certain financial officers on campus in fall quarter 2014. The first salary report was sent to the Academic Senate during Winter 2015.
The second annual salary report for MPPs was once again released in winter quarter. However, this year’s report provided a more thorough and organized account of salaries.
“My first reaction to just skimming the document is that it is much more detailed than last year,” Laver said. “Even if this isn’t an end product, it is a great step in the right direction.”
Employees from Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, Student Affairs, University Development and the President’s Office are broken up into four groups – MPP I, MPP II, MPP III and MPP IV, with average salaries rising in every level increase.
While there may be a decrease of $71,000 in MPP salaries, those funds are not available at Cal Poly’s disposal.
“Out of that $71,000 there was minus maybe $13,000 in general operating fund, (the) rest of that was actually saving to the auxiliary,” Armstrong said “It wasn’t money that could be used for the university in general because it was in the auxiliary.”
Despite any savings this year, Cal Poly is committed to its $3.5 million, multi-year salary equity program that they announced last year, Armstrong said. The university is also trying to develop other amenities, like 10-15 acre faculty housing facility, to attract potential professors and keep current ones happy.
The California Faculty Association (CFA) has been asking for a 5 percent salary increase across the board after years of not receiving pay raises. Since the California State University has not budged on its proposed 2 percent increase, the CFA is considering going on strike from April 13-15 and 18-19 – which would coincide with Cal Poly’s Open House weekend.
“I know that it is going to take time to recover and to provide those additional salaries. (It’s) not something we can do in effect overnight,” Armstrong said. “I think you know how important student success is to Cal Poly, but we really can’t have continued student success and your degree appreciating over time if we don’t have faculty success.”
As for the Academic Senate, it wants to continue the conversation and receive updated reports annually, Laver said.
“The goal is continuing this pattern that’s been going on for two years now, this dialogue,” Laver said. “At least the Senate will get a report on changes in the number and general salary information concerning managerial positions on campus.”
Further deliberation on the MPP report will be discussed at the Senate Faculty Meeting on March 1, where Armstrong will be in attendance.