Friday, Feb. 25, 2005
NEWS | 3
www.theloquitur.com
Reduction in benefits to occur for faculty, staff REDUCTION, page 1 option, the best plan offered by Cabrini; cheaper alternatives, like Keystone HMO, can be chosen instead, but most faculty decline this option because, as stated by the anonymous professor, it's “a plan notorious for denying coverage.” Iadarola maintains that the benefits plan, in contrast to other schools, is “very competitive.” Compared to other schools in the area, Cabrini remains to be part of the few institutions that offer opt out medical coverage for their eligible employees; however, many of the insurance company options at these other colleges are of higher quality. Shimada said that these changes apply to every full-time, eligible individual employed by the college, including the administration-Iadarola herself stands to lose the $2, 748.72, which in the academic year of 2002 to 2003, as documented by the Chronicle of Higher Education, would bring her total compensation down to $180,453. Faculty Senate members state that it was originally the administrations ideas to adjust the former family benefits plan because flex dollars would provide a reasonable arrangement that was not
affected by a faculty or staff member's marital status. According to the Faculty Senate, “The new system will move back to what the administration saw as an inequitable system.” The Middle States Evaluation, the reaccredidation process that all institutions participate in every 10 years, states that based upon comparable institutions nationwide, Cabrini's faculty salaries for full-time and associate professors rank between the 50th and 60th percentile, while salaries for assistant professors ranges between the 40th and 50th percentile. Figures compiled by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) revealed that in 2004, the average salary for a Cabrini professor was approximately $65,000, an associate professor earned $53,100, an assistant professor pocketed $43,200 and instructors made $35,000. With these changes, a married professor with children would now make $54,468. This brings up concerns from the Faculty Senate who believe that the decrease in benefit finances could result in “difficulty recruiting and retaining faculty.” In addition to this, the Senate feels that “employees are not valued, they are treated as
Cecelia Francisco/ Photo Editor
Cabrini’s faculty and staff will need to crunch their budgets to see how this will affect their medical coverage and living expenses.
'expense' rather than 'valuable resources,' and that the College's financial resources are being drained from personnel and put into bricks and mortar.” Many members of the faculty
and staff still remain indignant. “We are, in essence, blue-collar PhDs, ununionized and locked out of any governance model that gives us a voice. We're like the students in that regard: we're told
to shut up and accept the way things are, which is hardly a community based on vision, excellence or respect,” the anonymous professor said.
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worth living,” Iadarola said. She wanted to give the students of Cabrini College a practical education, one that they can “learn by doing.” Jim Claffey, a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, talked about his experiences with immigration in and outside of the United States. He said that immigrants come to America for the chance at a better life. Immigration is such a heated debate today that it is very hard to propose a real solution. His presentation included the film “Farmingville,” which is about a town in Long Island that had an influx of immigrants in the ‘90s. It depicted the harsh treatment and life in which day laborers must live. Colleen Bowman, a junior business administration major, said, “The film opened my eyes to what it would be like in their shoes. It was frightening.” He said the process for citizenship is so long and inefficient that it makes it impossible for immigrant to obtain a green card.
The immigrants in the movie only came to Farmingville for work, but they were met with prejudice and violence by the residents living there. Claffey said that the U.S. desires these day laborers and without them our economy would be in huge trouble. “We need their labor, but no one wants to see them,” he said. Claffey proposed solutions to help immigrants become better assimilated in the U.S. and challenged the audience to practice one of Cabrini’s core values, diversity. He wants students to go learn another language and travel beyond a resort hotel to the real villages of different countries. He said, “We must speak out every time we see abuse against another human being, there should be zero tolerance.” Phil Nicolo, a sophomore criminal justice and sociology major, said, “It is important to realize that everyone should be given a fair chance at making a life for themselves. Immigrants need our support because they are trying to obtain a better life.”
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Caitlin Scottattennistar218@hotmail.com