Free tuition, faculty extension
subjects of senate resolutions

The Faculty Senate began its new year on Aug. 24 by introducing a pair of resolutions, one that would give back to faculty and staff and another that would encourage faculty to give back to the public schools.

The first resolution calls for NC State employees with at least six years of satisfactory service to the university to receive a free in-state tuition waiver for themselves and their immediate family members – up to four years for a bachelor’s degree, two years for a master’s degree, and four years for a Ph.D. degree.

The suggestion is hardly a new one, but the resolution takes a different approach for implementation. Rather than call upon the General Assembly to provide the free tuition, this resolution calls on NC State to fund the tuition waiver internally through the creation of a foundation, grant or gifts account – without consideration of any direct funding from the state.

“I don’t want to ask for a cent of state tax money to fund this,” said the resolution’s author, Senator Bob Bruck. “If we do, it’s dead. I believe we have been sadly treated by the General Assembly, and if we ask them, they’ll find a thousand reasons to say no. This is a huge university gaining a significant endowment, and I firmly believe that if an effort is put together to fund it, it can be done.”

At current tuition rates, such a waiver would be worth roughly $4,000 per year per student, $16,000 over the course of a four-year education. Bruck said the benefit is needed because NC State faculty and staff have been shortchanged on benefits compared to their peers, their spirit is poor, attrition is at an all-time high, and they just can’t seem to get ahead.

“We’re entitled to educate our kids, too,” he said. “But taking into account our recent raises, we are still 17.9 percent below the cost-of-living increases needed to break even over the past half-decade – in essence, our salaries have gone down 18 percent in the last five years.”
Because the resolution was in its first reading, no discussion was allowed on the proposal, and it was assigned to the personnel committee for consideration.

Bruck also authored a second resolution, this one calling on the university to create a professional position within the Office of Extension and Engagement “with the assignment of leading, coordinating and evaluating a broad scale faculty/staff outreach program to the public schools serving all 100 counties in the state.”

Under his proposal, faculty would – on a voluntary basis – provide their skills and expertise to lead workshops in the public schools for students and teachers, allow public school students and teachers into their classrooms at NC State for hands-on exercises, and work jointly with teachers in developing syllabi and curricular materials.

Such an arrangement would help fulfill the university’s mission as a land-grant university, the resolution states, at the same time that it provides a valuable resource for a public school system that Bruck says desperately needs it.

“K-12 education in this state is in a lot of trouble,” Bruck said. “I get in trouble for saying it, but I’m not backing off my statement. Many of our kids are poorly prepared for college work … In many of our rural county schools, kids are learning biology, chemistry, physics and football from the same unqualified teacher. Our kids are not being exposed to the programs they need.

“I believe it is in everyone’s best interest that we, the land-grant, apply the incredible talents of our faculty … We need to be out front in helping these kids.”

The resolution calls on the university to provide a sufficient budget for staffing, seed grants to faculty and staff, and in-state travel reimbursement, and asks that an oversight board be established to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

Again, no discussion took place on the matter, and the resolution was sent to the resources and environment committee for consideration.

Posted September 3, 2004

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