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Chancellor Philip DiStefano addressed a slew of topics, including concerns about faculty salaries amid near-record inflation, during the first Boulder Faculty Assembly meeting of the academic year on Sept. 1.

His remarks included an overview of the college athletics landscape and a description of how faculty can be involved in the in December. He also recognized the progress being made on diversity, equity and inclusion by Senior Vice Chancellor Sonia DeLuca Fernández and team, including the recent adoption of a campus land acknowledgment with specific recognition of CU’s commitment to Indigenous issues and Indigenous peoples associated with Colorado.

On faculty salaries, DiStefano said that he hears from all corners of the university about how inflation is impacting employees’ finances, and that the CU Board of Regents and CU system have also taken note.

The university is now determining the allocation of a 3% merit pool for faculty and staff approved by the regents in June. This year’s budget also includes $3.7 million for structural pay adjustments for temporary faculty and market pay adjustments for staff, he noted. And the regents approved increasing the raises earned by faculty at the time of tenure and promotion. 

“I’m hopeful that these immediate actions will make an impact, but I also want to emphasize that we are continuing to work with the CU system on strategies to request additional state funding and to increase compensation further,” DiStefano said.

Rolf Norgaard of the Program for Writing and Rhetoric applauded the regents’ vote to create more significant pay bumps for faculty at promotion and tenure. And he said a similar boost must be considered for teaching faculty as they rise in the ranks.

Otherwise, “it removes any and all incentives to be inventive and entrepreneurial and to grow in one’s career if there’s no change at promotion,” Norgaard said.

DiStefano signaled support for continuing the conversation.

“I will work on the [promotion] increase with my colleagues because I know better than anyone how much you teach, and there needs to be an incentive for our teaching faculty to do what you need to do,” he said.

Alastair Norcross of the Department of Philosophy added that the university also should be highly concerned about compensation for adjunct faculty and lecturers.

BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy provided an update on the establishment of the Faculty Salary Procedures Working Group, which is evaluating faculty merit evaluation and salary allocation processes this fall in hopes of creating greater equity.

MAPS requirements

Faculty representatives also received an update on the university’s transition from MAPS (Minimum Academic Preparation Standards) to HEAR (Higher Education Admissions Recommendations) for prospective students, a change that became effective across the CU System in June 2022.

Katherine Eggert, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment, and Daryl Maeda, Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, explained the differences between the two standards and emphasized that the transition is widely supported by deans, administrators and faculty governance at the CU system level.

They said the change may benefit prospective students―particularly rural or first-generation students―who forgo applying to CU Boulder based on perceptions that the university’s preferred qualifications for admission are too numerous or too strict. It also eliminates the concept of “MAPS deficiencies” that admitted students must overcome as they matriculate.

“The end of MAPS is a good thing,” Maeda said. “Eliminating MAPS means we are going to be in line with all of the recommendations that high school counselors across the state are making to college-bound students.”

Currently enrolled students will see no changes with course requirements; the changes will impact incoming students starting in fall 2023.

Eggert said the schools and colleges need to make quick decisions on certain aspects related to the change, including whether they wish to keep additional admissions factors that are college-specific.

They also need to decouple MAPS requirements (for admission) from students’ graduation requirements, she said, emphasizing that graduation requirements in world languages especially need clarification by the schools and colleges.

Other BFA business

• Beechy discussed next steps for how academic units can begin to incorporate DEI work in annual faculty merit evaluations and asked to attend department faculty meetings to move the topic forward across the campus.

• BFA external elections begin next week for all eligible campus faculty and will include vacancies on BFA standing committees and systemwide Faculty Council standing committees. Eligible campus faculty may nominate themselves (or be nominated) for any of the seat vacancies. BFA representatives will vote on these seats Sept. 14–15, and nominees will be notified shortly thereafter. 

• CU Student Government representatives presented a resolution calling on the Board of Regents to ban concealed carry of firearms on campus. A 2021 Colorado law returned authority to the regents for dictating policies regarding firearms across the CU system. BFA will review the resolution for 30 days and vote at its Oct. 6 meeting.