The faculty recently received a raise.

BANGOR (AP) – The University of Maine’s faculty union says its professors remain among the worst-paid in the nation, despite a new pay increase.

The union maintains that the university is spending too much on administration and should redirect some of that money to improve faculty pay. Union officials say that if salaries are not competitive, educational quality will suffer as the best professors leave for other campuses.

“The system spends money on what it thinks is important, but when it comes down to it, not much money is spent on faculty, which means (the system) doesn’t consider us all that important,” said James McClymer, associate professor of physics and president of the local chapter of the faculty union.

The faculty recently agreed to a contract that includes a 1.5 percent raise over each of the next two years, raising the average pay to $69,900 for a full professor at the University of Maine.

According to the latest figures of the Chronicle of Higher Education, that is $23,000 less than the average salary of full professors at the 50 public doctoral universities nationwide. Maine ranked 47th on the list in 2002-03.

Similarly, the average salary of associate professors at the university was 42nd in the nation, while the average pay of assistant professors was 43rd, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

To help its cause, the union is conducting a study to highlight what its members consider an imbalance between what the university spends on administration and on academics. Professors are also planning to meet with state lawmakers to keep them informed of their concerns over salaries and other issues.

University of Maine System spokesman John Diamond said Chancellor Joseph Westphal and the system trustees are concerned that faculty salaries are low by national standards and have been working to raise them.

Over the years, compensation requests have regularly been included in legislative packages to the governor, he said. Many universities across the country are unable to offer any salary increase and are laying off faculty and staff, he added.

“The chancellor doesn’t feel that’s the road to go when we’re trying to increase the quality of education and retain and recruit high-caliber faculty members,” he said.

AP-ES-11-09-03 1310EST