Harvard Loses Highest Faculty Salary Rating

Harvard University has slipped back from an AA rating to an A rating for average faculty compensation according to the American Association of University Professors. A survey of 667 institutions of higher education for 1962-63 was released in the summer issue of the AAUP Bulletin.

Last year, Harvard was the only university to receive a double A rating. To receive such a rating an institution must meet average salary standards set by the Association for all faculty members with ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor.

According to Prof. Fritz Machlup of Princeton, President of the AAUP, Harvard qualified for an AA rating in all categories except associate professor. He believes that Harvard will probably qualify in this category next year.

Machlup said the University has raised salaries in all four areas but that the raise for associate professors was not quite sufficient to bring it up to the AA level.

Raise Planned

Dean Ford revealed at a press conference in February, 1963 that the University will institute a $500 across-the-board salary increase for associate professors next year.

The salaries for associate professors will then range from a minimum of $9000 to a maximum of $11,500. Dean Ford told the CRIMSON the raise would bring them up to AA standards.

However, Prof. Machlup disclosed that the standard set this year was for an average compensation of $13,180. At the standard will undoubtedly rise with the annual rise in the cost of living, the average salary for associate professors will, in all likelihood, fall even further behind next year.

In spite of this deficiency, the average compensation for full-time faculty members increased this year from $15,106 to $15,700, still the highest of any college in the country.

Dean Ford also said in February that the ceiling for professors' salaries will be raised next year to $21,000, well above this year's AAUP standard of $19,850 for an AA rating.

The AA standards for assistant professors and instructors this year were $9,740 and $7,330 respectively. These standards of compensation include all fringe benefits such as provisions for retirement pay and insurance.

Dean Ford said yesterday that he found it hard to believe that Harvard had dropped in its rating. He said that although there had been no general raises this year, there were some individual raises and all salaries remained relatively high.

He said that some smaller institutions had created what he called "sugar" professorships at salaries much higher than they usually paid. This would boost their average salaries without greatly affecting their median salaries. He also said that some institutions include in their reports to the AAUP higher summer compensation received by scientists and research fellows, partly through government aid. Including these factors would change Harvard's relative rating, without seriously affecting its actual competitive situation.

The February CRIMSON article stated that the University spent a total of $23.7 million on total salaries for the fiscal year 1961-62, and President Pusey predicted at that time that this figure would rise by five per cent next year. Of that figure, a little over $10.5 million went for faculty salaries