Florida College Wants to Make Professors Underbid Each Other on Salary

[n2doc]

The higher education community is aghast today at news that no one expected to hear: a dumb idiot in an unlikely position of power has proposed a stupid regressive anti-intellectual idea—in Florida.

Yes: in Florida. I was as shocked as the rest of you.

Inside Higher Ed reports that the State College of Florida at Manatee-Sarasota, which last year became “the only one of 28 Florida public colleges” to do away with a tenure system for professors, now has an even brighter idea for academic excellence:

Leading the charge against continuing contracts is Carlos Beruff, a trustee since 2008 who owns a local home construction business. Beruff argued that any competitive disadvantage could be countered by offering merit pay or bonuses to high performers, and said that the U.S. was “based on the freedom of work.”

That was in September. Between then and now, Beruff was reportedly working on a second proposal that would ask potential college employees, including faculty members, to quote their fee for services on job applications. That information would then be used in the hiring decision.

As the noted philosopher of education John Dewey famously said, “Every great advance in higher learning has issued from the imagination of a right-wing Florida home developer.”

http://gawker.com/florida-college-wants-to-make-professors-underbid-each-1739592339

[Starry Messenger]

1. Who didn't see that coming?

Unions matter.

[Igel]

3. Perhaps he has a wider application in mind.

I've known searches that produced ranked candidates who wanted higher starting salaries or start-up packages and rejected the job when they didn't get it. I've also known searches where the top ranked candidate probably wasn't serious about the application. But once offered a $15k/year increase or beaucoup research funds turned around, told his current dean about the offer, and settled for staying put in his old job with a salary increase that he'd previously asked for and hadn't received.

Conversely, there have been times when the dean knew that the candidates would say "no" to a lower salary and went with a lower-priced candidate. It's a matter of perspective.

Heck, even the announcement often is related to how much the job will pay. Once watched a senior faculty member who really wanted to move to a different institution apply for a "junior" grade salary. The search committee verified that he knew the salary he'd get, he was easily the top ranked candidate, and he bargained to get some fairly cheap senior-grade perks thrown in--office space, one-time funding to set up his research, changes in what resources the library would offer, getting some of his more advanced students funded. In other words, he was willing to offer his services at cut-rate prices.

So it happens. But it's not institutionalized, and that's probably appropriate for a medieval institution.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Just when you thought the race to the bottom could not get any worse.......