Local paper posting Madison salaries from UW System Redbook

The Wisconsin State Journal, using information from an open-records request in September provided by the UW System, has recreated and intends to publish tomorrow (Nov. 8) a searchable, online version of the Redbook reflecting 2007-08 salaries.

It will be published in tandem with a Sunday story on morale and funding concerns in UW–Madison humanities programs. The paper chose to provide only UW–Madison salary information.

While the Redbook is a public record, publishing salary information in this form obviously has the potential to help other institutions identify the salaries of our faculty and seek to recruit or “poach” them.

UW officials spoke to the State Journal about the potential negative impact of providing such easy access to the data. The paper is following its principle of making more state government information accessible to the public. We will continue to reinforce the facts about faculty and staff compensation and counter misleading impressions.

Please keep in mind some of the following realities:

UW–Madison salaries for full professors rank dead last in a 2006-07 comparison with a 12-university peer group established by the 1984 Governor’s Commission on Faculty Compensation. Salaries ranked more than 13 percent below the median.
UW–Madison generates the third-highest level of extramural funding support in the nation, at more than $900 million annually. Our faculty thrive in a fiercely competitive environment for federal research dollars. This productivity depends on recruiting and retaining the best faculty.
The state of Wisconsin benefits directly and indirectly from having a flagship campus that is widely regarded as one of the best public research universities in the world. We recruit faculty nationally and internationally in markets that are increasingly competitive, and those faculty do research that contributes to virtually every important industry in the state.
Many of the state’s most promising young people attend UW–Madison rather than choosing elite private research universities because of Madison’s preeminence — which keeps talent in the state of Wisconsin. To ensure that our students get the best possible education and that our research continues to flourish and contribute to economic growth, we must remain competitive. UW–Madison did not create the market for faculty salaries, but our success hinges on being a competitive player. Other universities — public and private — are stepping up efforts to lure top talent from public institutions. (See Provost Patrick Farrell’s Board of Regents Powerpoint presentation on retention.)
Especially in this time of severe economic downturn, we must recognize what a powerful economic engine UW–Madison has become. A 2008 study has identified 385 companies with a direct tie to UW–Madison research and innovation. University Research Park alone supports more than 100 companies and 3,500 jobs, many of them in the emerging biomedical and technology economy.
A more fundamental question facing the Wisconsin public is: “Do we want to continue to reap the benefits of having a world-class public research institution in our state?” The answer can be “yes” with some modest strategic investments that help UW–Madison get to the average salary level of its peers.