Santa Fe College President Pushes for Higher Pay Disparity [Satire]
BY LEN CABRERA / JUNE 19, 2019
Updated June 20, 2019
The following is satirical.
Earlier this week, Santa Fe College President Jackson Sasser presented a new school budget to faculty. The proposed budget was approved by the Board of Trustees on Tuesday.
In the budget, President Sasser was proud of an across-the-board 2% cost of living adjustment, increasing the existing pay gap between full-time and part-time faculty. Just like an across-the-board tax cut favors the rich in dollar terms (2% of $100,000 is much greater than 2% of $10,000), the 2% raise benefits those who unfairly make more money than others. The lowest-paid, 9-month faculty (Rank III, p27) will see a $757 pay increase while “part-time” faculty that teach the maximum allowable load year-round will see a $540 raise ($45 per class). The highest paid full-time faculty will see a $1,809 raise. Adjuncts can close the gap by proctoring final exams… at least 25 exams.
The gap also grew larger thanks to increased health insurance costs, which are covered 100% for full-time faculty, compared to 0% for part-time. Full-time faculty also get life insurance and paid holiday, sick, and vacation leave (slide 19). Part-time faculty have the benefit of contributing 7% of their pay into a FICA alternative plan so the college doesn’t have to contribute to Social Security taxes.
When part-time faculty complained, President Sasser said, “Don’t forget you also get free parking. That would cost you $612 if you were a UF employee” (quote is made up based on slide 23).
President Sasser said that he’s all about the “Fight for 15”; that’s why he made sure adjunct faculty pay was increased by $15 per credit hour. By raising pay from $744 to $759 per credit hour, the school can pretend it pays its part-time faculty $30.36 per hour (slide 33).
Off the record, President Sasser said he figures the faculty and the press are as bad at math as the students, so they wouldn’t figure out that $30.36 per clock/contact hour is actually only $10.12 per hour when you add two hours per contact hour for lesson preparation and grading, considerably less than the $12 per hour minimum he bragged about to the local paper. President Sasser gets around the $12 minimum by using student workers who only get $8.50 per hour, but he’s a champion to the local paper because he says he asked for $15 per hour.
“This is an awesome step in the right direction,” said Timothy Tia, Alachua County Labor Coalition coordinator (actual quote), proving he’s also bad at math—or just willing to overlook employee exploitation, as long as the employer says the right things.