Carolina Rankings
by Michelle Muscatello
Part of a proposed tuition increase would go to faculty
salaries and benefits. UNC-Chapel Hill faculty resources rank 72nd
among America's universities, causing Carolina to slide in the overall
national rankings. But Carolina is still attracting some top-notch
faculty.
You hear it all the time on the Carolina campus. There's
just something special about Chapel Hill. Though it's hard to pinpoint
exactly what that special touch is, faculty say that's part of the
joy of working for UNC.
"It's just a nice place to work and to live,"
says Jan Yopp.
"The southern part of heaven as they say,"
says Jonathan Hartlyn
Faculty council executive committee member Jan Yopp
says we attract people who understand Carolina's unique situation.
"I think anybody who is coming here to teach has to recognize
that we're a public university, a state-sponsored university and
we have to speak to the other aspects of teaching, not just the
paycheck you bring home," says Yopp.
Provost Robert Shelton says that paycheck isn't a
top priority. "When you talk with faculty I think they would
say salary is third or forth on their list of priorities,"
says Shelton.
"Salary is not a primary issue," says Yopp.
"We have in spite of some of these problems been
able to attract and maintain some pretty extraordinary faculty,"
says Hartlyn.
So maybe the University's biggest concern about faculty
salaries and benefits does come down to the rankings. Carolina administrators
want to move up, but are still pretty pleased to be in the top five.
"Ninety-eight percent of the institutions would
die to be in the situation we're in right now. We need to continue
to understand that this university is only as good as the people
in it," says Shelton.
The faculty council says a tuition increase, where
part of the funds goes to faculty resources, is the first step in
improving Carolina's rankings.
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