Faculty workload at center of debate

At the heart of the debate between the University of Hawai‘i faculty union and Gov. Ben Cayetano’s office is this: the portrait of a professor at work.

The union and governor have been at loggerheads since 1998 over faculty pay, with the union demanding an across-the-board raise and the governor reluctant to commit to an increase unless faculty prove increased productivity. It’s a bitter conflict that has led to personal attacks on both sides and accusations from the governor that faculty members aren’t pulling their weight.

And although studies show that University of Hawai‘i professors generally have a heavier course load than their Mainland counterparts, it has been difficult for them to shake the ivory tower image of a professor’s life, which Cayetano has zeroed in on. He has repeatedly cited a 1997 state auditor’s report that said the university was ineffective in managing faculty resources, the Manoa campus faculty don’t teach enough and singled out one faculty member out of 3,000 for attending law classes while she teaches a full load.

Faculty members who work an average of 50 to 60 hours per week, bring in more than $100 million a year in grant money and have not had a raise in more than two years have been seeing red over Cayetano’s remarks. They plan to call for a strike vote in March and may walk out as early as April 2.

It’s no secret that there’s no love lost between the governor and the University of Hawai‘i faculty union. It’s a relationship that seems to go from bad to worse, even while the state’s economy has improved. But while the rhetoric is reaching a fever pitch locally, the issue of faculty workload is a debate that is happening across academia.

"It’s a national issue," said Michael Middaugh, an administrator at the University of Delaware and author of the book "Understanding Faculty Productivity." "This discussion happens all over the place. Universities don’t do a good job explaining what their professors do."

Recently some Boston University officials suggested a requirement that faculty stay in their offices four days per week, prompting outrage from professors. A law in Ohio a few years ago tried to mandate that universities increase teaching time by 10 percent.

Gary Rhoades, higher education professor and director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, said it’s natural that governors or state legislators don’t think university professors are working hard enough.

"Those kind of workload issues are very common," Rhoades said. "There’s a tendency to focus on teaching load and the number of hours people are getting in. It’s as much a control thing as it is a productivity thing. It’s an effort to control the work force. It’s like saying to a lawyer, ‘If you’re not in the courtroom you’re not really working.’ "

Hawai‘i distinguishes itself from other states, though. "You’re different because basically you’ve got one big university and the community colleges," Rhoades said. "All of the other states have these other in-between institutions. In a way that concentrates the negotiations. If people aren’t getting along well, it’s a small state and everybody knows about it."

Unions unhappy

Many people say the relationship between the faculty union and the governor’s office stands out even in a state with a long history of union strikes and tough negotiations.

"I think surely the relationship between UHPA and the governor is probably the worst-case scenario," said state Rep. Mark Takai, D-34th (Waimalu, Newton, Pearl City), a UH graduate and a member of the House Higher Education Committee. "But I don’t think any unions are happy with what’s happened the last few years."

Almost as soon as Cayetano came into office six years ago, the state faced a $750 million shortfall, Takai said. "Things had to be done. Unfortunately the brunt of the cuts were taken by the university."

UH has lost about $35 million overall. And the free-thinking, free-speaking atmosphere of the university faculty didn’t mesh with the governor’s style. "They say what they feel. They have academic freedom. They’ve been brought up in that environment," Takai said. "I don’t think it helps in the discussion when we have a governor who is also very candid and outspoken and blunt."

What was bound to be a tense relationship under poor economic times worsened.

The faculty union in 1998 endorsed Cayetano’s opponent, Linda Lingle. While Cayetano has said that didn’t affect the negotiations, many faculty members see the endorsement as a disastrous mistake by the union.

UHPA also was the only union in the state to refuse to go along with the governor’s pay lag plan, which gradually delayed the twice-a-month payday for state workers to give the state a one-time $51 million saving. UHPA took the state to court over the issue — and won. As a result, the state had to develop one payroll system for the university and another for other state workers. Cayetano called the faculty "selfish" for refusing to go along with the plan.

State could save millions

If the union strikes for a short time and misses one paycheck, the governor will have the pay lag he’s wanted all along. It would save the state millions.

"It’s become a personal contest of wills, which is really stupid," said Alex Malahoff, president of the faculty union and an oceanography professor. "So here we are."

Malahoff said he doesn’t know what more the faculty can do to increase productivity, as the governor suggests. "I teach a couple of classes. I work 12 hours a day, and I bring in about $7 million a year. I employ close to 100 people a year," Malahoff said. "I don’t know what more he wants."

Cayetano has praised the research efforts, just as many other states have tried to force universities to operate under a corporate model that emphasizes the sciences, Damrosch said. "Humanities doesn’t contribute to the bottom line," Damrosch said. "It makes people outside wonder what the faculty are doing. Their work isn’t any less time-intensive; it just doesn’t produce Defense Department grants."

There’s also a historical explanation for the scrutiny. "There was a big change at universities in the post-World War II years that was fueled by government grants for science. Faculty were expected to do more research and less teaching, because that’s where all of the action is," Damrosch said. "Now you can’t get hired at a four-year college without having a Ph.D., which is a research degree, not a teaching degree. That’s become the requisite degree for anything beyond the community college level. Universities have rewarded people for research."

‘Antagonism is there’

Now there are calls for an increased teaching load, he said. "For an entire generation, states were playing that game. They built a big research campus to give luster to the system and to the state. Now they’re beginning to wonder what they bought."

Faculty members at Manoa, Hilo and West O‘ahu have a three-pronged responsibility: teaching, research and community service.

Scott Thomas, assistant professor of education administration and director of the Hawai‘i Education Policy Center, said it’s difficult for people outside the university community to understand how much work goes on beyond the classroom, from publishing scholarly articles to testifying before the Legislature or advising local farmers on new techniques.

"It’s very hard to quantify many faculty members’ expenditures of time," Thomas said. "I think many of the governor’s comments are directed to us here at Manoa. We have a very different charge than the other campuses. It does come across that we are free agents. Do we work 8 to 5? No. But I work 70 hours a week. The antagonism is there because we don’t show up in the office at a specified time."

Workload monitored

Dean Smith, executive vice president and chancellor of the Manoa campus, said the workload is monitored by the college deans and department chairs. "The state is really getting a bargain. We’re teaching more than our peers," Smith said. "Everybody greets the research with open arms. It brings in 100 million a year in federal grants."

The 1997 state audit Cayetano made reference to criticized the 10-campus system for not having proper controls in place to make sure the Board of Regents’ teaching policy was enforced. Faculty members are expected to teach eight classes a year at the four-year campuses — Manoa, West O‘ahu and Hilo — while the community college faculty are expected to teach 10 classes.

"The board policy does not specify a minimum teaching requirement so instructional faculty may be permitted to teach no courses at all," the audit said.

But many University of Hawai‘i faculty members spend more time teaching than their counterparts nationwide, according to the UH Benchmarks/Performance Indicators Report.

Manoa faculty teach an average of 8.2 hours of classes each semester, compared with a nationwide average of 8 hours. West O‘ahu faculty teach 10 hours a semester compared with 9.8 nationally. The community colleges teach 12.7 hours compared with 12.9 hours nationally; Hilo faculty teach 9.2 hours while their counterparts average 9.5 hours.

Manoa faculty spend 51 percent of their time teaching, compared with a national average of 40 percent at other research universities.

Talks ‘very serious’

While the relationship the last few months has been characterized by silence between the governor’s office and faculty union, there are signs of slight improvement.

The state’s lead negotiator made a Valentine’s Day offer to the faculty union for raises of 6 percent or 7 percent over two years, along with an opportunity to earn merit raises. But the administration also proposed faculty members be paid their entire salaries over nine months, which wipes out much of the gain. The nine-month pay plan means the faculty would pay the entire cost of health benefits in the summer months and lose credit toward retirement each summer.

The union on Thursday made a counteroffer it would not disclose publicly. But J.N. Musto, executive director of UHPA, said the talks between the groups were "very serious."

"It’s better than the alternative, which would be for them to throw our proposal down and spit on it," Musto said. "In a relative sense, things are looking up. I don’t want to lead anybody into optimism, though."

As proof of that, faculty union members met yesterday to plan their strike.

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