A survey of 170 faculty members, conducted by Seton Hall’s advocacy chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) last fall, shed light on high dissatisfaction with salaries and growing concerns about faculty participation in shared governance at the university, according to a Feb. 5 press release.
The AAUP, a national, nonprofit membership association of faculty and other academic professionals, works to support all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education. According to previous Setonian reporting, the AAUP operates as a faculty union at public universities, including nearby Rutgers, but at private universities like SHU, faculty are barred from union protections as they are legally considered an extension of administration. As such, the university has a system of shared governance wherein faculty members have a say in certain aspects of university decision-making. SHU’s chapter of the association was founded in 2014.
Prof. Golbarg Rekabtalaei, an AAUP leader and associate professor of history at SHU, emphasized the importance of addressing the concerns laid out in the survey to improve the university environment.
“We love Seton Hall University and want to help our university reach its full potential,” Rekabtalaei said. “However, it becomes difficult to do so when faculty need to focus on securing a living wage, sometimes taking on additional work outside the university, something that’s not even an option for international faculty who are on visas.”
The AAUP survey revealed widespread dissatisfaction among faculty in several areas. Notably, only one respondent reported being “very satisfied” with their annual raise, while 73.89% of respondents were “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.”
Prof. Benjamin Goldfrank, the president of SHU’s AAUP chapter and a professor in the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, gave insight into this high percentage of dissatisfaction.
“Our salaries have continued to fall behind inflation for the past five or six years at least,” Goldfrank said. “And our salaries have continued to fall behind those of our peers, at least since the last Simpson study.”
According to Goldfrank, the Simpson study is a salary survey completed at the end of every year to show the university where salaries should be to keep up with industry standards.
Rekabtalaei said she believes these issues can be solved through open conversation among faculty.
“Overall, faculty believe there should be an open and meaningful dialogue between faculty and administrators,” Rekabtalaei said. “We are the engine of this university and essential to advancing its mission. We are the primary force behind teaching and curriculum.”
However, these concerns are not new, with Goldfrank calling the situation an “ongoing issue that hasn’t been resolved.”
“University leadership tends to claim that the latest salary study would resolve all of these issues and instead the latest salary study has not done that,” he said. “Seventy percent of the faculty in that survey were dissatisfied with the raise they received from the salary study.”
Specifically, the survey said that faculty received a minimum 2.5% raise in 2024 following the salary study, which was “designed to keep SHU salaries commensurate with those at similar universities.” However, the survey also said that the inflation rate for the first half of 2024 was a disproportionate 3.6%.
SHU’s chapter of the AAUP has also conducted reviews in the past that displayed similar grievances. This most recent survey’s results aligned with the AAUP’s “Real State of the University” report from April 2023.
The 2023 report detailed alleged low pay of the university’s full-time and adjunct faculty and lack of faculty involvement in decision-making. These past concerns were reflected in the most recent survey, with 65% of faculty respondents “definitely” supporting adding faculty representation with full voting rights to the Board of Regents.
The shared governance conversation was sparked previously in 2021 when SHU announced the “Seeds of Innovation” plan to restructure its schools and colleges. This plan was a point of contention for the AAUP; at the time, they questioned whether shared governance based on non-binding votes was meaningful. Soon after SHU’s AAUP chapter protested the university’s restructuring plan, the New Jersey branch of AAUP called the plan a “violation” of shared governance, as reported by The Setonian.
Despite these issues coming up repeatedly, the AAUP has run into a roadblock in getting them addressed.
“There’s been no response,” Goldfrank said. “We sent the survey results to President Reilly, offered to meet with him to plod a way forward, offered help at identifying problem areas and ways to address them. But his very polite response was that the administration’s relationship with the faculty goes through the Faculty Senate, in particular the Executive Committee.”
The February press release said that in addition to requesting a meeting with Msgr. Reilly, the AAUP shared the results of the survey with the Faculty Senate and SHU’s faculty.
University officials said that SHU is actively working with the Faculty Senate to “enhance the merit compensation framework and ensure continued competitiveness in faculty pay” and that the university “remains dedicated to investing in faculty and fostering an environment of innovation and collaboration.”
“The higher education sector faces significant challenges, yet Seton Hall University remains committed to investing in its faculty,” said SHU spokesperson Michael Hyland in an email to The Setonian. “Over the past two years, we have hired 105 new faculty, strengthened tenure-track lines, and launched the Innovation Hires initiative to support interdisciplinary teaching and research.”
Hyland also said that the university recently completed a comprehensive faculty compensation study, leading to “historic salary investments totaling over $2 million annually.” These salary investments, according to Hyland, include:
- 2% across-the-board raise for full-time faculty, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024.
- Higher salary minimums, ensuring faculty earn at least 85% of the median for their rank and discipline.
- Increased minimums for full professors with five or more years in rank.
- 25% per-credit rate increase for adjuncts, effective Fall 2024.
- $500 increase to base summer teaching pay, with variations by rank and discipline.
“These adjustments place Seton Hall’s average faculty salary 3.71% above the median of peer institutions, outpacing the 2023-24 College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) reported median institutional increases,” Hyland said.
To continue to strive for changes, Rekabtalaei said SHU’s AAUP chapter will keep working.
“We continue to work with the faculty, Faculty Senate, and administration to address the concerns of our colleagues in the survey,” Rekabtalaei said.
According to Goldfrank, adjunct pay was increased for the first time in nearly 20 years, marking a significant change. However, the group wants to see more done, which may come with the installation of a new provost.
“Hopefully with a new provost that has been vetted by the faculty will hopefully have a more positive relationship regarding shared governance,” Goldfrank said. “There seems to be something of a disconnect between how many faculty view shared governance versus what the current provost thinks about what shared governance should look like.”
These disputes over salaries, though, are impacting the entire SHU community, according to Goldfrank.
“We’re losing faculty to other places because of the pay differentials,” he said. “It’s hard to maintain and attract demand and keep here the best faculty possible when other universities are offering higher pay.”
Svana Shankar, a freshman biology major in the joint bachelor’s/M.D. program, said she was worried about how low salaries would impact teachers’ performance.
“I definitely think that wages affect the teachers’ motivation,” Shankar said. “They put forth all of that effort, dealing with students’ questions, grading work. If you’re getting low wages for that, it will impact their work.”
Julie Tran, a freshman accounting major, said she feels similarly regarding low salaries.
“Low wages could lead to the teachers being less enthusiastic about their job and could lead them to [quit] if they feel unfairly compensated,” Tran said. “Teaching is their livelihood and they should be paid wages to sustain their lifestyle.”
To help solve these issues, students can also advocate for professors, Tran said.
“Students could make a change in advocating for teachers’ wages by protesting or sharing their thoughts online,” she said. “If a lot of students and parents advocate for the teachers, the school will listen.”
Rekabtalaei said she believes that ensuring everyone is represented at SHU is the best way to make a change.
“When every member of our community feels valued and supported, and the most vulnerable do not feel dispensable, Seton Hall can fully realize its potential as a liberal arts institution with an ethical mission that is now needed more than ever,” she said.
Kaelyn Blizard is a writer for The Setonian’s News section. She can be reached at kaelyn.blizard@student.shu.edu.
