Sunday, March 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Vice presidents and deans are nearly twice as likely to garner merit pay increases than professors, and top administrators last year received $320 more on average than did faculty members, university records show.
In July 1996, merit pay increases showed up in the paychecks of 48 percent of the university's 658 faculty members, compared with 90 percent of the school's 20 top executives. Merit pay increases averaged $2,089 for professors and $2,409 for administrators.
Merit pay increases supplemented 3 percent cost-of-living increases that last summer automatically went to everyone on the university's staff of more than 1,400.
Harter, who has final approval over merit awards, defended the widespread distribution of administrative merit pay as a necessity for keeping the best leaders in challenging positions at UNLV.
"Most are going to receive merit, or they are not going to have a job," Harter said last week. "They, by definition, had better be deserving of merit. They are hired because of their leadership abilities, and they are expected to solve the most complex problems facing the university."
Nevada lawmakers budget merit pay increases only for professors and professional staff members who have not entered the top layers of administration, so Harter had to find money for executive merit pay increases elsewhere in the university's state-supported budget.
The Legislature deliberately left 20 highly paid UNLV executives off its list of possible merit recipients. Recently created top-level positions could be added to that exemption category when lawmakers finish their biennial session later this year.
For the 1996-97 academic year, the state-funded merit pool was tapped at UNLV for pay increases to top-level administrators not already exempted. Exempted administrators include vice presidents, deans, associate deans and the athletic director.
While Harter found $45,778 in merit pay increases to distribute to 90 percent of the exempted executives, $20,702 in state merit appropriations went to 50 percent of faculty members in the Greenspun School of Communication.
That executives are "getting a bigger chunk of the bucks" confuses Evan Blythin, an associate professor of communications.
"Our students are every bit as important as the tasks administrators tend to every day," said Blythin, who was among 10 communications faculty members passed over for merit. "Why not give merit to 90 percent of the faculty? I don't think there's anything more critical than preparing a group of students" for life beyond the university.
Merit pay went to 318 faculty members and 103 professional staff members, as well as to dozens of administrators who were not exempted by lawmakers and employees working in support officers across campus. Self-supporting operations such as the Thomas & Mack Center carve merit pay increases from their non-state budgets.
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