Obviously every program is very different, but it is a good point to compare our position with others in the same department. If you are earning something comparable with mid, or even low range faculty in your department with similar tenure, then that would certainly seem fair enough and is perhaps as good as one can expect. If on the other hand, after 20 years with very positive reviews and strong support you still earn significantly less than what your department pays first year instructors fresh out of school and still finishing their degree- that is a problem. You can't use that argument alone- but it's hard to deny the imbalance. Most of this data is public information and faculty compare their salaries between schools all the time. They even have an organization called the AAUP which works for their causes. Check out the site. This is how you get results from the system. http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/Z/ecstatreport2007-08 cheers, Dennis Johnson
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