The USC chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent out an open letter to USC on Jan. 8, pushing for cost of living adjustments to faculty salaries for the upcoming school year.
The letter, which has collected more than 800 signatures, states that their salaries do not reflect the increasing cost of living in Los Angeles.
Howard Rodman, president of the AAUP and professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts, believes USC is behind in keeping their salaries in line with rising costs.
“I think where the problem lies is that other universities, both public and private, have done a far better job of keeping salaries in sync with inflation than USC has — so that raises are really raises,” Rodman said. “When we’re asking for cost of living adjustments, we’re asking to keep abreast of life.”
The letter quoted the US Bureau of Labor Statistics which estimated that the cost of living in LA has risen to a total of 7.59% in the last two years. In contrast, the faculty at USC only saw an average raise pool of 0% and 2%, respectively.
Christina Dunbar-Hester, member of the Leadership Council at AAUP and associate professor of communication at USC Annenberg, said the faculty interpreted the “belt-tightening” with regards to their salaries as a necessary measure during the uncertainty of the pandemic but later realized that the university’s endowment grew significantly over this period of time, to over $8 billion.
“In the same period, we felt our incomes shrink due to a combination of pandemic-induced austerity measures at USC and sharply rising inflation,” she said. “This all came together as an impetus to speak up collectively.”
While the USC AAUP chapter has already delivered the letter to the offices of President Folt and Provost Zukoski, the Academic Senate is due to address it in its next meeting, on Feb. 16, according to Dunbar-Hester.
The letter to the university administration mentions that without yearly Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), the faculty is “condemned to fall further and further behind”. While the University of California has implemented COLA, USC has not.
Ryan Boyd, Associate Professor of Writing at USC’s Dornsife, feels that faculty salaries have not kept pace with the accelerating rate of inflation, particularly in LA, where the cost of living is very high because of it.
“The thing about COLAs is that they are standard in a lot of sectors of the workforce,” said Boyd. “For USC to stay competitive and stay cutting edge, we need to offer COLAs in addition to merit based pay raises, simply so the faculty can afford to live and do the thing they love to do and that they are trained to do, which is teach great students and do amazing research.”
He said that while the cost of healthcare is increasing, the younger faculty members are also dealing with rental costs, raising families with student debt from their grad school or their undergraduate days. On the other hand, it is a serious concern for senior faculty members as well who are planning their retirement.
The letter also states that salaries are worth 5.5% less than they were in 2019. “If you were making $100,000/year in 2019, you are in effect making $94,441 now,” it read.
“USC faculty are actually making less money now than we were five years ago,” said Boyd. “So we’re simply asking for the administration to look at what we earn for our work and to compensate us fairly in a way that allows USC to stay on top of world university rankings.”
In their response to the letter to Annenberg Media, the university stated that they are working on the issue.
The statement said that “fair, equitable and competitive salaries” are integral to the retention of faculty. It also said that the president and the provost are working together to resolve these issues.
“I feel particularly proud of the work that AAUP has done,” Rodman said. “Clearly, this was an issue that needed to be brought to wider attention.”
Members of the faculty believe the submission of the letter will begin a conversation and induce systemic change in the future. Boyd believes that no single letter is going to accomplish everything but will be a step in the right direction.
“This is the start of a process and to start talking about what’s best for the future of USC,” said Boyd. “I think it’s the beginning of a conversation.”
Michael Gribbon has contributed to this report.