University faculty and staff are feeling their share of budget pain - Robert Bruininks, Minnesota Public Radio News

In remarks on Midday with Gary Eichten this week, House Speaker Kurt Zellers expressed concern that Minnesota families have had a 30 to 40 percent pay cut, while "you see a college professor get a 20 to 30 percent increase in pay." While Zellers did not mention a specific professor or institution, I believe it is essential that the public know the real story about faculty and staff compensation at the University of Minnesota. For the past year or more, I have repeatedly stressed to the university community that our entire workforce must participate in solving the budget challenges posed by deep cuts in state funding. It has been our consistent practice to proactively manage our costs related to human resources while doing our very best to preserve employment. To that end: University faculty and staff have experienced wage and salary freezes in both fiscal years 2003 and 2010 (corresponding to previous deep state budget cuts).