Faculty Salaries Are Raised
IN AN ACTION characterized by President Dickey as"one of the truly significant steps in the history of Dartmouth's progress," a further increase in faculty salaries was put into effect by the Trustees on July 1 and a new long-range salary policy was adopted with the design of assuring "Dartmouth of being able to maintain and gather a distinguished teaching faculty second to that of no other liberal arts college."
Announcement of the decisions taken by the Board of Trustees at its commencement meeting was made by President Dickey in a memorandum mailed to the individual members of the faculty. Effective as of July 1, the new salary scales within the three faculty ranks of instructor, assistant professor and full professor are based upon a five months'study which took into consideration, among other things, the increased cost of living since 1939 and faculty salary scales throughout the country. The Trustees, President Dickey stated, are wholeheartedly committed to the policy of making faculty salaries at Dartmouth "fully commensurate with salaries paid by the best institutions to full-time, undergraduate teachers." Salary adjustments were made upon an individual basis, reflecting a variety of factors, and in the cases of men whose service at Dartmouth began within the last few years and whose base salaries therefore reflect current conditions, minimum or no adjustments were made at this time.
President Dickey's announcement of July 1 was the second Trustee action this year, with regard to faculty salaries. In January it was announced that the College would make permanent for the two-semester year the faculty salary increases adopted for the wartime three-term schedule. At that time the Trustees authorized the salary study which led to their latest action.
The upward adjustment of faculty salaries and other increased costs of operation will be partly met by the $100 increase, effective next fall, in the College's annual combined fee for instruction, general facilities and the health service. President Dickey pointed out that in meeting the "continuing and increasing level of College expenditures" two main resources were being used: the increased combined fee and "an Alumni Fund which has continued to support the College in larger and larger measure."
The text of President Dickey's memorandum to the faculty was as follows:
Last January I sent a general communication to members of the faculty explaining that pursuant to authority given me by the Board of Trustees, the war-time faculty salary schedules would be made permanent. I also stated at that time that I regarded that action as a step toward achieving a more adequate salary scale for teachers at Dartmouth.
At the January 12 meeting of the Board, the Trustees also authorized the President to initiate thoroughgoing studies of (a) the combined fee payments of the student body and (b) the general question of faculty compensation. These studies were necessary both in connection with the action taken at that time and more especially to establish the facts as to the possibilities and nature of any further steps in either the short or long range adjustment of faculty salaries here.
On May 22 I sent you an announcement setting forth the decisions taken by the Trustees and the underlying reasons in respect to an increase, effective October, 1946, in Dartmouth's combined fee for instruction, general facilities and the health service.
Beginning in January, a broad and intensive survey of policies and considerations bearing on faculty compensation was undertaken. The results of this survey were presented to the Board of Trustees for its thorough consideration last Thursday and Friday, June 27 and 28.
The survey approached the subject from three points of view:
(I) The effect of the war-time and post-war rise in the cost of living on faculty salaries in Hanover.
(2) The immediate competitive situation faced by Dartmouth at comparable educational institutions and in the Federal Government.
(3) The kind of salary policy which will best meet the needs of the most promising teachers and thereby assure Dartmouth over the long run of being able to maintain and gather a distinguished teaching faculty second to that of no other liberal arts college.
On the basis of the data and considerations developed in this survey, the following basic recommendations Were presented to the Board of Trustees:
(a) That adjustments should now be made in the individual salaries of all full-time members of the faculty generally to offset at leiast in part the increase in cost of living since 1939, taking into account adjustments previously made during the period.
(b) That a salary policy be adopted which will assure that teaching salaries at Dartmouth will be fully commensurate with salaries paid by the best institutions to full-time, undergraduate teachers.
(c) That the progression upward of individual salaries within the three academic ranks and new salary ranges be so administered that teachers desired as permanent members of the Dartmouth faculty generally reach their maximum salaries at the new levels some ten years earlier than in the past. The advantageous implications of this policy for teachers of real promise and performance during the period of growth in competence and in family responsibility as well as in their later years of service are, I think, evident.
These recommendations and a program of salary adjustments toward carrying them out were approved by the Trustees last Friday. I have confidence that as this program develops, this action will be regarded as marking one of the truly significant steps in the history of Dartmouth's progress.
A brief word as to the individual salary adjustments now being made. The enclosed slip states your adjusted annual basic salary, effective as of this date and to be first reflected in your August 2, 1946 salary payment. The individual adjustments being made at this time reflect a range of variable factors including generally cost-of-living adjustment, existing salary scale and prior adjustments in recent years, rank, age, length of service -and the nature of service. Men whose service at Dartmouth began within the last few years and whose base, salaries accordingly in most cases reflect or approximate current salary factors have in general received minimum or no adjustments at this time.
The action taken in January whereby the College committed itself to an additional outlay borne during the war by the Government and the further actions reported now entail a continuing and increasing level of College expenditure which rests upon two resources: (1) the increased combined fee and (2) an Alumni Fund which has continued to support the College in larger and larger measure.
