Gallaudet professors say they are being severely underpaid
Professors at Gallaudet University say they are being severely underpaid when compared with other colleges and universities in the Washington, D.C. area.
Here is an interview with Dr. Derek Braun, a Gallaudet professor in the Biology department who has been with the university for 27 years. He is the president of Gallaudet’s new American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapter, who has written several open letters raising concerns about the salary gap.
—— [Begin Interview]
Dr. Derek Braun: Hi. I’m Dr. Derek Braun. I’m a professor at Gallaudet in the Biology program. I've been teaching at Gallaudet for 27 years. I’m also the president of our new AAUP chapter.
Alex: Gallaudet’s AAUP chapter sent out an open letter…
[Full-screen image showing an illustration of AAUP’s open letter from January 18. It has the headline, “Gallaudet severely underpays its faculty while staff and administrators are paid fairly for Washington, DC.” It shows a graphic from Gallaudet AAUP’s dashboard that shows faculty are paid 20% less relative to Washington, D.C. area institutions. The graphic also shows that staff are paid on the same par while administrators are paid about 3% more.]
Credit: Gallaudet AAUP
Alex: …the letter said Gallaudet’s average pay for faculty, their salaries, are 20% less compared with other colleges and universities in the D.C. area.
[Full-screen image showing a graphic from Gallaudet AAUP’s open letter on January 18, focusing on the “Median Salaries of Faculty, Staff, and Administrators at Gallaudet vs. Washington, DC Area Institutions.” It shows that the combined average of seven DC area institutions pays faculty $108,300 while Gallaudet’s faculty is paid $90,500.]
Credit: Gallaudet AAUP
Alex: Can you explain some of the possible reasons for the disparity in salary?
Dr. Braun: Yes, that’s true. We earn 20% less than D.C. area universities. We earn 20% less. We don’t know why Gallaudet decided to pay us less. Faculty here are unsure and we’re looking for answers. Gallaudet’s administration said they can’t afford to pay us more. We know that in the past, the majority of faculty at Gallaudet was hearing individuals. During that time, Gallaudet paid above the average for the D.C. area. But now, the majority of faculty are Deaf, and Gallaudet is paying less than other D.C. institutions.
Alex: I read the dashboard of Gallaudet's AAUP website. It shows graphics and statistics. I saw that from 2000 to 2009, Gallaudet usually gave merit increases and cost of living adjustment pay increases. The graphics show both applying for almost every consecutive year from 2000 to 2009. Either both applied or one of them applied. But from 2010 to 2022, it stopped being an annual thing. Some years had none. Some years had nothing, and some years had only either a COLA increase or a merit increase. Can you explain what are the possible reasons for the difference?
Dr. Braun: The cost of living increases (COLA) — Gallaudet now calls it GPI — is there to address inflation. For example, if a certain year has a 3% increase in inflation, then we hope we will also get a 3% COLA. Everyone at the university gets the same COLA. Faculty, staff, and administrators all get the same COLA. That means our salary will be in line with inflation. But Gallaudet has not given us a COLA so that means our salary has been decreasing every year for a long time now. Merit increases are a separate thing but it’s part of the system. Merit increases recognize hard work. Faculty get merit increases depending on how well we do our jobs. It varies for faculty. Since 2009, Gallaudet has given us merit increases only two times. It used to be every year, but it’s been only two times since 2009.
Alex: Can you explain your observations, since you are a part of Gallaudet and a professor yourself, what is the impact of the 20% salary gap and no merit increases? What is the impact on faculty? Did some leave? Is it hard for Gallaudet to recruit new faculty talent?
Dr. Braun: Some faculty members told me they are struggling to pay bills. They can’t afford it. Some faculty said they have to take second or third jobs to make ends meet. I expect that staff are in a similar situation. Washington, D.C. is a very expensive city. Most of the classes we teach are face-to-face, it’s not remote, so it means we are required to live close to D.C.
——--
[Sponsored video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]
—--------
[Advertisement from Disaster Distress Helpline: After a disaster, you may be at risk for emotional distress. Warning signs can include feeling isolated, anxious, having trouble sleeping and more. If you or someone you know is Deaf or hard of hearing, the Disaster Distress Helpline offers a direct videophone option.
This free service for ASL users is answered 24/7 by trained crisis workers fluent in ASL and can be accessed using any videophone-enabled device and dialing 1-800-985-5990 or at https://bit.ly/3CEwnNT
—-------
Alex: Gallaudet’s AAUP chapter recently asked for donations on a $5,000 goal to get an external audit. You met that goal in just over a week with people making donations. Can you explain what your goal is with the audit?
Dr. Braun: Yes, that’s right, we got $5,000 in eight days. Our goal is to try and figure out if Gallaudet can afford to pay us fairly. During the coronavirus pandemic, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore announced that they couldn’t afford to pay faculty for their retirement benefits. This is the annual matching payment. They said they couldn’t afford it anymore and made cuts. But JHU faculty were confused because of JHU’s wealth. So they hired Dr. Howard Bunsis, who is a faculty member of another university. He is an expert in university finances. He did an external audit and found that JHU had almost $2 billion in reserves. It was revealed that the money was there. JHU was taken aback and apologized and restored the matching payment for faculty members’ retirement plans. Since then, Dr. Bunsis has conducted audits of other universities and found similar results. Including the University of Maryland. I’ve reached out to Dr. Bunsis and he has agreed to audit Gallaudet. How will this audit work? Will he go to the Gallaudet campus? No. He will use public data that universities typically report for federal data purposes. He can gather that data and make comparisons.
Alex: Do you and the Gallaudet AAUP believe that Gallaudet University can afford the 20% increase? Have you reached out to the administration and engaged in talks? How is it going with those negotiations and discussions?
Dr. Braun: We know that Gallaudet has revenue from tuition and gets a large federal appropriation as well. So we are puzzled. Our AAUP chapter values data and our decisions are based on data. Therefore, we are waiting to see the results of the audit. That will tell us if Gallaudet can actually afford to pay us fairly. We have been meeting with the administration and recently started meeting every two weeks. We always bring up concerns about faculty pay. So we are waiting for the audit results to see what’s next.
Alex: Thank you, Derek Braun, for your time and for explaining about Gallaudet faculty. I appreciate that.
Dr. Braun: Thanks, Alex!
——[End interview]
I reached out to Gallaudet for their response to the Gallaudet AAUP chapter’s concerns. Gallaudet’s Director of Communications Elise Nye said, “At this time, the University is in conversations with AAUP. If there is anything to share at a later date, we will be in touch.”
That’s all that I have to share on this faculty pay situation for now.
Gallaudet AAUP: https://gallaudet-aaup.org/