Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1960 [PAGE 144]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1958]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

141

As a result of the reduction in the budget, $500,000 of the 1957-59 appropriations from the University Income Fund will not be spent. T h e biennial appropriation can therefore be reduced by $500,000, making a net increase of $985,600 in the budget. IIB. For essential increases in expense and equipment budgets $4 coo 000 N o increases in biennial budget appropriations for increased costs of supplies and equipment have been made since 1949-51, all increases having been specifically for other purposes, such as contributions to the Retirement System, operation of new buildings, salary adjustments, and increased enrollment. In 1953-55, reductions were made in the expense and equipment budget of nearly every department. Thus, there are serious deficiencies, the correction of which is of high priority. D u r i n g this period, the price of nearly everything the University buys has been going up approximately 5 per cent a year. Coal has increased from five to six dollars a ton in the last three years. A dollar a ton is a significant increase since the University uses oojooo tons a year. T h e increases in postal rates have contributed to the budget problems of many departments. It has been impossible to replace all obsolete and worn-out equipment. Increased costs can no longer be met through internal adjustments and savings. The University's inventory of equipment is approximately $40,000,000, about three-fourths of which has been provided from state funds. T h e present appropriation for equipment is $1,000,000 a year, which provides for replacement on the average of once every thirty years. T h e most expensive type of equipment, scientific apparatus, becomes obsolete in less than half that time. Equipment budgets should be increased by at least 50 per cent to provide for an average replacement once every twenty y e a r s ; however, the requested increase of 40 per cent will enable the University to inaugurate a program of regular replacement and to correct the most urgent deficiencies. IIC. To continue on a permanent basis expenditures financed temporarily from savings $1 415 000 During the present biennium it has been necessary to increase the various operating budgets, both for staff and for current operating expenses, by the use of temporary savings in other areas. All these needs, which are detailed in Schedule B, will continue in the next biennium and should be provided for on a permanent basis. The principal items include interior painting, rental and staff for an I B M Electronic System, increases in fellowship stipends, additional staff for extramural classes, and operating expense of the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and of Admissions and Records. III. Salary adjustments for all staff $12 000 000 While the increases provided in the 1957-59 budget have enabled the University to keep pace with increases at comparable institutions, further adjustments of considerable magnitude will be required during the next four biennia if faculty salaries are to be brought into line with comparable professions and other universities of great distinction. T h e President's Committee on Education Beyond the High School has recommended that faculty salaries be increased to twice the 1956 level within five to ten years. F r o m 1952 until 1956 the cost of living remained fairly constant, rising only 2 per cent during the four-year period. Thus, the increases made during that period represented substantial gains in purchasing power. During the last two years, however, in spite of the business recession, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Index of Consumer Prices has risen steadily month by month, so that the price level is now bx/i per cent greater than it was two years ago. T h e r e are good reasons for believing that a similar trend in living costs will continue. T h e increases in faculty salaries at a number of other universities in the Middle West since 1951 on the average have exceeded those at the University of Illinois. These schools are planning increases comparable to those presented here. In 1957 the University ranked fourth among the Council of Ten Universities in average salaries for full professors, fifth for associate professors, third for assistant professors, and second for instructors. Several leading universities now have minimum salaries of $12,000 for full professors. T h e minimum at the University of Illinois is now $8,400, and it