February 2, 2006

President Wilson convened the meeting at 8 a.m. in the Henning Room.

The Committee reviewed the planning documents that had been distributed to the Board of Trustees a few days earlier.  A correction was made to the language of one strategy, and that page will be redistributed at the Board meeting.  When final planning documents are printed, the correction will be incorporated.

The President then turned the Committee’s attention to a series of handouts that compared IWU’s faculty salaries by rank to several other groups of Baccalaureate I colleges as well as to a few colleges individually.  He noted that IWU’s percentage salary increases had been relatively low in the past few years and asked the group’s advice on whether to reexamine next year’s budget to see if a slightly higher than planned increase could be possible.    He noted that for every º% increase in the combined faculty/staff salary budget, he would have to find an additional $80,000 to save elsewhere.  Members brought up many important issues raised by the data and the President’s question, including: (1) the desirability of raises at least equaling inflation;  (2) concerns about salary compression (a situation that can occur when the salaries of newly hired colleagues approach or exceed the salaries of those who have been at IWU for several years); (3) the importance of maintaining starting salaries that are competitive with other institutions; (4) and the complexity surrounding salary equity and merit pay models.

The Committee agreed that in the longer-run, campus-wide discussions of these issues were needed and should be conducted in conjunction with the strategic plan.    The President stated that in the short run, he would continue to consider whether a higher than planned salary pool increase for next year might be possible.

The Committee was reminded of its next gathering on Monday, February 6, in conjunction with the Board of Trustees meeting.  The President thanked SPBC members for their hard work and indicated that he was very proud of the planning documents and excited by the prospect of seeing the vision of the plan begin to emerge.

Distributed to all faculty and staff: Feb. 6, 2006