Opinion: Penn State can afford to do the right thing, therefore we must
In the face of burnout and financial stress, Penn State faculty, staff and students are showing resilience in keeping our classes and our research moving along, maintaining our productivity and creativity. Our hard work during the pandemic of 2020 and 2021 has paid off: our enrollment is “stable,” and we anticipate a “full on-campus learning environment” across the commonwealth in the fall. Planning for our reopening should include making good on Penn State’s mission as a land grant university that embraces institutional values of integrity, respect, responsibility, discovery, excellence, and community, and is built on the foundations of diversity, inclusivity and equity.
For many Penn Staters, the pandemic exposed or exacerbated long-brewing problems, threatening Penn State’s very foundations and values. “More Rivers to Cross II,” the report on racism against Black faculty at Penn State, describes micro and macro aggressions ranging from racial epithets in student evaluations to disparities in pay and promotion. Our AAUP chapter endorses the report’s top recommendation: to hire 50 Black faculty into full-time, tenure-track positions over the next five years.
The pandemic has also exposed job insecurity and low pay as long-standing problems for faculty and graduate students. During the first semester of the pandemic, in spring 2020, our fixed-term faculty received contract revisions that made their status even more precarious, vulnerable to layoffs with 12 weeks’ notice. While this language has been dropped in some newly issued contracts, language about pay cuts and furloughs without notice was retained. Fixed-term faculty working full-time are putting in long hours (sometimes 60+ hours of teaching, preparing, and grading, in addition to research and service). Some of these faculty earn annual salaries of just $30,000, depending on campus and department. Some full-time staff earn even less. Some programs have instituted cuts, including reductions to already low ($20k-range) graduate student stipends for teaching and research. Low adjunct pay has also been cited as a reason to cut graduate employee pay.
Penn State can afford to alleviate these problems today. Penn State’s multi-billion dollar reserve — that stood at $3 billion in 2020, as reported in audited financial statements — has provided an ample buffer for pandemic costs and lost revenue estimated at $400 million. Our $3 billion reserve excludes donor-restricted funds (“without donor restrictions”) and “net investment in plant” (i.e, buildings). Some pandemic-related costs and reduced revenue have been offset by $90 million in non-student aid and a $250 million line of credit, of which $50 million has been spent. Additionally, Penn State’s stellar credit ratings (Aa1 from Moody’s and AA from S&P, the second highest on both ratings systems) make us an excellent candidate to issue bonds, as Michigan and Harvard did to cover pandemic expenses. Issuing bonds would also allow Penn State to reverse unit budget cuts that have persuaded some programs to cut graduate student compensation with little notice.
As we look to return to “normalcy” next fall, hopefully with a vaccinated student body, faculty, and staff, we expect to return to a university that uses the next few months to heed the demands of “More Rivers to Cross II”; pay faculty, staff and graduate students competitive, not poverty, wages for their expertise and hard work, and to boost job security, not threaten it. Penn State should remove contract language that makes fixed-term faculty vulnerable to no-notice pay cuts and furloughs and instead reward faculty, as well as our adjunct and graduate student instructors, for their resilience and the good work they have done to keep enrollment stable. The administration could draw on reserves, issue bonds, and use additional credit to fund these needs now. Penn State can afford to do the right thing, therefore, we must.