Ball State leader: Raising faculty pay a hard sell

Ball State University's president is blaming "incredibly unsympathetic" state legislators for the school's low ranking on faculty salaries.

Jo Ann Gora told the school's University Senate on Thursday that the Muncie-based university's faculty salaries have become increasingly less competitive.

Gora was asked about a national survey showing Ball State's average salary of $85,000 for a full professor ranks in the bottom 5 percent nationally among doctoral institutions, The Star Press of Muncie reported. Gora responded that the state universities face a hard sell with legislators who she said feel it isn't their problem that professors might believe they're underpaid when other people in their communities have lost jobs.

Gora pointed out that Ball State's faculty members have received pay raises in recent years despite state cuts to higher education.