Here are a few more bits of data concerning what is increasingly seen as administrative “bloat” at the University of Hawaii.
First, keep in mind that the number of faculty hasn’t grown since the early 1990s.
In 1994, according to one count, there were 20,041 students at UHM. This grew to 20,169 in 2008, a percent increase of .6. In 1994 there were 2,008 faculty and in ’08, 1,984, or a decease of .1%.
But here’s a list of positions in the UH System offices, and the Manoa Chancellor’s office, which used to be combined. They have grown considerably since the chancellor’s office was spun off as a separate entity.
The left hand column indicates positions that existed in 1994, while the next column shows the positions today. Salaries are slowly being added in the third column.
A better idea of current administrative salaries can be gleaned from the UH annual salary report to the legislature. The 2009 report can be found here.
Remember that salaries of full-time UH faculty, range from an average of around $50,000 to just over $110,000, depending on rank, length of service, and academic output.
No surprise that faculty have their eyes on those administrative positions as a source of savings, especially since hiring continues even while there’s talk of laying off tenured faculty, seen by all as an extreme measure.
And yesterday I again heard someone comment, with complete authority, the mistaken view that UH faculty have rejected a 5% pay cut. The local media needs to correct that perception by stating the straight forward fact that the faculty union includes a 5% pay cut in its own current offer to the university.
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Has anyone done a similar chart for the DOE?
I don’t think your analysis accounts for the various reorgs that occurred between 1994 and now. Quite a few of the people occupied similar positions back in 1994… probably under slightly different titles, and lower salaries… but they did the same work.
More data at http://www.hawaii.edu/iro/maps.php?category=Faculty/Staff
Unfortunately the latest is from 2003 and it lumps admin types with lab techs and engineers, though it does list an “Exec/Admin” category.
Regarding UHPA, UHPA’s own TV commercial should’ve emphasized that its members still support taking a 5% cut, instead of vaguely stating they support higher ed.
Mike,
I second your hope for one on the DOE. My suspicion is that the DOE admin pattern is much more benign, with lower pay for “administrators.
I further suspect the validity of a DOE analysis would hinge a great deal on th definition of administration. It is my understanding there are a lot of people who work out of the district or central offices, unattached to a particular school, but who provide essential services to the class-room level teachers and students.
An overly simplistic analysis would use the salaries of such professionals as evidence of a “bloated bureaucracy,” instead of recognizing the DOE is shuttling these folks from school to school as a cost-saving measure. In less lean times, such people may be assigned to a particular school and not work from the district office.
So I suspect we are talking “apples and oranges” if we assume the DOE and UH accusations of “excessive administration” are equally valid.
But bring on the study, share the data and let competing analyses begin.