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Education

No paychecks for FAMU law professors

The problem is due to a "glitch" in the payroll system, the interim dean said. The professors threaten a boycott.

By DAVID KARP
Published June 24, 2005

Professors at the Florida A&M University law school threatened Thursday to stop teaching classes unless they are paid for work they have already done.

For the entire first semester of the summer, as many as 10 professors teaching classes did not get a paycheck.

With the second summer session beginning Monday and still no money in hand, professors learned this week that university officials wanted to cut their pay - retroactively.

That prompted a meeting Thursday between professors and interim law school dean James Douglas, who arrived at the Orlando campus just three weeks ago.

Faced with a faculty boycott, Douglas won a pledge from FAMU's provost to pay the professors their summer salaries in full.

The decision still must be approved by FAMU's interim president, Castell Bryant. She could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

A boycott would have damaged the image of FAMU's 3-year-old law school, which alumni worked for decades to establish. It also would have hurt the school's chances of winning permanent accreditation from the American Bar Association, which will visit the school this fall.

Douglas said professors have not been paid because of a "glitch" in the payroll system. He could not describe the glitch.

"I think a lot of it had to do with the processing of paperwork," FAMU provost Larry Robinson said Thursday night. "A lot of people are working extremely hard to make sure it does not happen again."

The payroll problem is just the latest embarrassment for FAMU, a historically black school that is struggling with financial and management problems.

An outside accounting firm reported this year that FAMU could not account for how it spent millions in tax dollars. The National Science Foundation has threatened to pull millions in federal grants, and investigators are conducting criminal probes of several departments.

Earlier this year, the school conducted an unusual payroll audit, an apparent attempt to track who is receiving paychecks. It also imposed a spending moratorium and recalled employee cell phones. Last week, the school said it would cut athletic scholarships in every sport.

Douglas said the pay problems at the law school were not caused by a fiscal pinch on the main campus.

"I can assure you that has nothing to do with it," he said.

When he was named interim dean, Douglas stepped into a situation that began under former law school dean Percy Luney Jr., who was placed on paid leave June 7.

Bryant made Luney step down after discovering that a donor gave $1-million to the law school to create an endowed chair, and was then paid $100,000 a year to fill it.

The law professors who taught this summer did not have signed contracts, which is the usual practice. Instead, they got a document called an "Assignment of Responsibility" that laid out their duties.

Even without a formal contract, all agreed to teach.

When paychecks did not arrive, some professors thought it was connected to a payroll problem in Tallahassee. In May, some professors on FAMU's main campus didn't receive complete paychecks because summer payroll forms weren't turned in.

Then this week, with students taking finals, professors heard they would not get their expected salary: $5,000 per credit hour taught.

Douglas said university officials in Tallahassee thought the salaries were too generous, especially compared with what other professors get. He said he expected the law professors' pay would be cut a "reasonable" amount, but did not know by how much.

Tension over money isn't unusual between a university and its law school. Law professors often earn more than their English or biology counterparts.

Other law school deans contacted Thursday said a pay rate of $5,000 per credit hour was not excessive.

"I would say that is average if you look at what most law schools do," said Patrick Shannon, the associate dean at University of Florida's law school.

UF law professors are paid a percentage of their annual salary, he said, which typically means more than $5,000 per class.

Douglas, who expects to work as interim dean for six months to a year, promised Thursday to improve the school's work.

"I think if people are patient over the course of the next month, people are going to be very happy with what they see," he said.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. David Karp can be reached at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 8430, or karp@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 24, 2005, 00:45:09]