MSA SEEKS MORE STUDENT ORG. SPACE PAGE 12 MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 60° LOW 39°
U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
WEDNESDAY
ST PAUL
OCTOBER 8, 2014
THE GROUP PASSED A MEASURE ON TUESDAY FOR A NEW POLICY.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
HEALTH
Incentives boost flu vaccines Health care facilities are using store discounts and freebies to try getting people immunized.
MATCHING Senior administrators draw criticism for their salaries at the University. But they aren’t unique among their peers.
the market
BY HALEY MADDEROM hmadderom@mndaily.com
As flu season approaches, medical experts are clamoring for University of Minnesota students, staff and faculty members to get immunized. And in convincing them to do so, area health clinics and pharmacies are throwing discounts and freebies to them. To reach its goal of providing 22,000 vaccinations this flu season, Boynton Health Ser vice is pairing its free flu shots with a Tootsie Pop. Though in recent years Boynton Health Service has steadily boosted the annual number of flu shots it administers, it’s one of several clinics that has resorted to incentivizing vaccines in order to keep as many people as possible healthy through the winter months. CVS’s Dinkytown and Stadium Village locations offer the immunization bonus of a 20-percent-off shopping pass. And a flu shot at TargetExpress, when coupled with a u See SHOTS Page 12
LEGISLATURE
DFL seeks student debt relief Party leaders hope to extend the tuition freeze and cut costs of Minnesota higher education. BY KEVIN KARNER kkarner@mndaily.com
D
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BY TYLER GIESEKE AND ANNE MILLERBERND
espite widespread accusations of high administrative spending at the University of Minnesota, pay for the institution’s senior leaders falls in line with that of its peers. The University’s top administrators earn average salaries below those of leaders at many other Big Ten university systems, a Minnesota Daily analysis found. The mean base salary for University administrators in fiscal year 2013 was $340,007. Across the Big Ten, that number was about $350,000. Administrator salaries at the University and conference-wide have spiked since the mid-2000s, far outpacing increases in faculty members’
pay over time. The average Big Ten full professor pulled in about $142,000 in the 2013-14 school year, according to the American Association of University Professors. School leaders say setting administrative pay means responding to a market and scrambling to keep talented managers from forsaking public education for privatesector profits. And while some argue that highly paid administrators preserve an institution’s quality, state legislators and experts say universities need to streamline costs and focus resources on education rather than hefty salaries.
There is a market for the best and brightest of all things ... so either you’re going to meet the competition, or you’re not. RANDY KANGAS
University of Illinois associate vice president for planning and budgeting
SEE ADMIN PAGE 6
U near middle in senior administrator pay $600,000
$500,000
Some state leaders have pledged to extend options for student debt relief in the next legislative session and continue the University of Minnesota’s tuition freeze. The announcement came from members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party and about seven weeks before Election Day, when voters will decide which party controls the state House of Representatives. While some students are glad to see college affordability as a high priority for state leaders, questions remain about the efforts’ implementation and effectiveness. Two years ago, the state Legislature froze undergraduate tuition for students paying the in-state price at the University. It also enacted a tuition freeze for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system until 2015 and expanded the State Grant Program, which provides college funding for low- and middle-income families.
$400,000
Average Salary: $350,152.45
$300,000
$200,000 SOURCE: MN DAILY REPORTING
u See TUITION Page 4
PATCHING THE GAP Cementing funds for aging buildings
Old buildings hinder work The University has nearly $3 billion in estimated facility needs over the next decade. BY BLAIR EMERSON bemerson@mndaily.com
Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a three-par t series examining the University of Minnesota’s efforts to garner state funds for building maintenance. The first part was published Oct. 1.
ZACH BIELINKSI, DAILY
The Veterinary Isolation Buildings remain closed to students Monday afternoon on the St. Paul campus. The University has listed these buildings as in critical condition.
Montserrat Torremorell is limited in the research she can conduct at the University of Minnesota. Torremorell, an associate professor in the Veterinar y Population Medicine program, studies infectious diseases in swine and conducts her research in the Veterinar y Isolation Buildings, which make up some of at least 37 facilities identified as in critical need of repairs on the Twin Cities campus. The facility’s inadequate heating and cooling systems, and lack of space for larger animals or groups of animals, restrict
Torremorell’s ability to quickly respond to emerging viruses and obtain research grants, she said. The University has more than 850 buildings, and nearly 25 percent of them are more than 70 years old. Many of those older facilities are struggling to serve the technological needs of the departments that call them home. To keep up with the University’s aging facilities and provide students and faculty members with modern technology, President Eric Kaler is seeking state support to replace the veterinar y isolation facility and a greenhouse on the St. Paul campus. These projects are part of his $77 million 2015 capital request to the state, which also includes a $55 million request for Higher Education Asset Preservation and Renovation funds. The value of the University’s request for building maintenance funds has increased in recent years, and with each year that passes, the buildings’ needs grow, said Mike Berthelsen, Facilities Management associate vice president. u See GAP Page 3
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