������ο��Ƶ

������ο��Ƶ System Board to Consider New Administrative Salary Policy – Dec 5, 2002

BATON ROUGE, La.–The Board of Supervisors for the University of ������ο��Ƶ is set to consider a new administrative salary policy for the presidents and top administrators of its eight universities.

The policy was approved by the System’s Finance Committee today and will go before the full board on Friday.

“It is important to remain competitive in administrative salaries. But it is equally important to compensate faculty members, who are the heart and soul of our universities. This policy encourages both,” ������ο��Ƶ System President Sally Clausen said.

The policy would hold presidential salaries to within 20 percent below or above that of their counterparts in the Southern Regional Education Board. The policy also ties administrative salaries to faculty pay by requiring institutions to ensure that their aggregate average administrative salaries are “no closer to their peers than average faculty salaries are to their respective peers.”

Finance Committee Chair Mike Woods said the policy ensures that salaries are appropriate to the state’s financial realities, yet competitive within the region.

“Our presidents have immense responsibilities to their universities and communities. It is critical that we be able to attract and retain the best leaders we can,” Woods said.

The new policy addresses guidelines that the Board of Regents adopted in September. In addition, it contains specific performance criteria on which to base salary increase decisions. They are:

*Institutional characteristics, such as enrollment, budget size and SREB classification,
*Faculty salaries compared to their SREB peers, and
*Leadership/Performance, such as program accreditation, retention rates, graduation rates, audit results and achievement of stated goals.

Currently, the average presidential salary in the ������ο��Ƶ System is more than $29,000 or 18 percent below that of its SREB counterpart. The average faculty salary in the ������ο��Ƶ System is within 5 percent of its respective counterpart.

The University of ������ο��Ƶ includes eight universities: Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and University of Louisiana at Monroe.

-30-

For More Information Contact:
Catherine Heitman
225/342-6950