A proposal to use revenue generated by the largest freshman class in Ithaca College history to provide raises for faculty and staff was presented at a faculty council meeting Tuesday evening.

Don Lifton, associate professor of management, presented the proposal to reverse the college’s decision to freeze salaries for the 2009-10 academic year.

Lifton said faculty and staff across the campus — from professors teaching 250 students in an auditorium to custodians having to clean bathrooms used by an additional six residents — are not getting compensation, despite the projected $3.3 million surplus resulting from the additional 519 students.

Lifton said he believes the administration made a mistake admitting 74.2 percent of the 12,752 applicants the college received.  

“If the administration would just admit they made a mistake, we’d be able to find a solution,” he said. “But so far, no one in a leadership position is coming forward to accept the blunder for overshooting.”

John Rosenthal, professor of mathematics and a member of the budget committee, said the budget meeting held earlier in the day did discuss faculty increments. He said there was a request to raise the minimum wage for college employees to 50 cents per hour above the living wage.  

Carl Sgrecci, vice president of finance and administration, said the budget committee will be meeting over the next couple of weeks to gather information about excess of revenue and expenses for the current fiscal year. He said addressing the declining demographics in terms of high school graduates in the college’s student recruitment areas will be a top priority.

“The budget committee will be taking a long-term perspective on both potential enrollment and the related financial implications before it makes any short-term recommendations concerning use of the projected bottom line for the current year,” Sgrecci said.

The council voted 20-0-1 to recognize the impact of the global fiscal crisis at the college and recommended that the lost payroll increment for 2009 be restored in the future as the college’s fiscal health improves — particularly the college’s endowment, which faced about a $500,000 drop this year, Sgrecci said.  

Warren Schlesinger, associate professor of accounting, said even though he would have liked an increment this year, he agrees with President Tom Rochon’s administration.  

“The increment should be restored,” Schlesinger said. “But the timing is not right.”  The faculty council supported Rochon’s recommendation to retroactively restore the college’s 8.75 percent TIAA-CREF contribution, which was lowered to 8 percent this year. TIAA-CREF is the staff’s  retirement plan.

The council also encouraged the budget committee to recognize the efforts of faculty and staff to take on the additional work created by this year’s large class by considering one-time compensation measures during the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Rochon said the budget committee will not know if they can permit a one-time payment until the spring semester enrollment report is received.

Raj Subramaniam, associate professor in health promotion and physical education, said he was disappointed that the faculty council did not pursue a salary raise given the surge in student enrollment.

“Unhappy faculty and staff are going to hurt production, and it’s going to trickle down to the students,” Subramaniam said. “The students will be the ones who are going to face the brunt of this.”  

Subramaniam said though he knows colleagues who are teaching larger classes this year, his classes have not been affected.

“I’m not fighting for myself saying I want a raise,” he said. “We’re all part of this, and we all need to fight together.”

According to Kathleen Rountree, provost and vice president of academic affairs, part-time professors can expect two to three additional sections, but so far there is no plan to increase the load of full-time faculty.

Rochon also attended the faculty council meeting and suggested the formation of a task force to examine faculty governance. The council approved of the task force and agreed to discuss it at the October meeting.  

Rochon said he hopes the proposed task force will look for places where faculty and staff do not have a voice and encourage more participation. He said the new task force will allow the entire college to accomplish its goals, rather than each school having its own aims.  

“As an entire college, we constantly overpromise and under-deliver,” Rochon said.  

Towards the end of the meeting, Rountree updated the council about the searches for the new deans of the School of Business and the Roy H. Park School of Communications. She said the search committee hopes to have a new Business dean by March and a dean for the Park School by April. Search committees for both searches will begin to meet.

Rountree also addressed the issue of the large freshman class. She said even though academics and housing may be difficult with more students on campus, the class of 2013 will be a welcoming challenge.  

“There’s no doubt that it’s overcrowded on campus, but we need to accept and enrich ourselves in the challenges we face ahead,” she said.