Down economy squashes plans for faculty incentives

By Jeyling Chou
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected] If history professor Brenda Stevenson taught
at Yale University, her children would have received a tuition
supplement to any school in the country. And yet, she decided to
stay here, leaving her kids out of luck. Stevenson had received an
offer to teach at Yale, where her benefits would have included
tuition supplements and fee waivers for her children, but she chose
to remain at UCLA. “UCLA is rigorous in its attempts to
retain its faculty by matching the outside offer,” she said.
With Tidal Wave II ““ the anticipated influx of 60,000
students into the University of California system over the next 10
years ““ officials say faculty retention and recruitment are
more important than ever. But UCLA’s position as a public
university puts it at a disadvantage next to private schools that
receive more endowments. And when one gets down to the numbers,
“private schools get things public schools can’t
give,” said Leonard Rome, vice chancellor of research for
Life and Health Sciences and senior associate dean of research for
the UCLA School of Medicine. For example, private schools have the
funds and ability to award tuition supplements and exemptions to
the children of their faculty. “It’s actually very
common for faculty to receive some kind of tuition for their
children,” said John Curtis, director of research and salary
survey for the American Association of University Professors.
“But one faculty will receive benefits for their children
only at that university; another faculty may receive benefits at
any university. Some have a set amount, others have an open-ended
amount,” Curtis added. Benefits of teaching at a private
university Faculty benefits at private universities are negotiated
on a case-by-case basis that depend on the credentials and rank of
the professor ““ and sometimes the research grants they bring
with them, Curtis said. In some cases, as with Stevenson,
“private schools will pay the equivalent of their
school’s tuition, even if the kid goes to another
school,” Rome said. The administration of public universities
are well aware of this differing fact and the effects it has on
faculty recruitment. Private schools not only offer fee waivers,
but may give free rides to the children of their faculty, said vice
chancellor of budget and finance Steve Olsen. For example, he said,
if the child of a Harvard faculty member gets into Princeton
University, Harvard will pay Princeton’s fees.
Representatives from Harvard would not confirm nor deny these
reports. This benefit alone could tip the scale in favor of private
schools to a prospective professor. “At UCLA, not only is
there no break on fees, but there are absolutely no advantages of
any kind “¦ there is no advantage for kids of faculty to get
into the UC school system,” Rome said.

A deal of our own To increase faculty benefits and strengthen
recruitment, UC regents have discussed implementing a similar fee
exemption policy. The resolution was proposed and researched
several years ago by faculty groups and was pending confirmation in
2001, said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz. But the policy never took
effect. “The economy and the state budget took a dive, so it
was suspended for budgetary reasons,” Schwartz said.
“And that’s where it currently stands.” Had it
been implemented, the policy would have exempted undergraduate and
graduate tuition fees for the children of UC faculty. Schwartz said
this added benefit would have helped the efforts for faculty
recruitment. “Whatever we can do to make our recruitment
packages more attractive helps us,” he said. “But the
state economy got in our way.”

UC remains strong Weighing both sides of the scale, executive
vice chancellor Rory Hume doesn’t feel the attractiveness of
UC is damaged by its dependency on state-allocated funds. “We
stay competitive because many faculty are deeply committed to the
goals of public education,” he said. Additionally Rome said,
there are a lot of pluses at UCLA. “We have the Southern
California weather. That is a very good draw over places where the
sun comes out three times a year,” he said. Perspective
faculty members also look at the environment and reputation of
students and other faculty at the school. “This is a very
active and energetic place, and a lot of times we get people who
come here because of their colleagues and their environment,”
Rome said. “It’s a very open and collaborative
environment here.”

With reports from Rachel Makabi, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.