by Dionisia Tabureguci
As teachers and students’ morale continue to sink at the Fiji-based main campus of the University of the South Pacific, the institution’s weak financial position and exorbitant salary packages enjoyed by its senior management are expected to top the agenda at this year’s first USP Council meeting, scheduled to take place in Tonga mid this month.
The salary packages are at the centre of rising tension between USP management and parties representing students and teachers within campus.
The fate of these packages are going to be known at this month’s Tonga meeting scheduled to be held on May 19-20, council member Dr Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano confirmed in an interview with ISLANDS BUSINESS.
Risking being slaughtered by the university’s disciplinary system, Tuimaleali’ifano said it was time USP affairs were put out in the public domain as the perceived “double standards” and “favouritism” were taking their toll on staff and students.
Earlier requests by ISLANDS BUSINESS for an interview with the university management have proved futile.
“Yes, this is a substantive item on the agenda. It is substantive because the subcommittee on the management packages has to report back to confirm the additional perks that were part of those packages.
“And secondly, they also have to report back on whether the contracts of those people—their contracts are going to expire at the end of the year—whether the contracts are going to be renewed.
“And if renewed, whether they are going to be renewed under the existing terms or if they are going to be reviewed in line with the reality of affordability in the region.
“That is, whether the member countries can afford these kinds of packages,” said Tuimaleali’ifano, who is a member of the USP Council, as well as vice-president of the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS).
Funded mainly by government grants from its 12 member countries and aid from donor partners, USP in recent times has been treading on shaky financial grounds after posting a substantial loss in 2006 and dealt a severe blow with the Fiji government decreasing its grant allocations in the last two years.
Believed to have begun when former Vice-Chancellor Anthony Tarr took up office in 2005, USP’s financial status has now weakened further to the extent where drastic cost cutting measures have been taken.
The controversy surrounding this is that while the highly paid senior management officials are executing the cost cutting measures, they are increasingly being pointed at by unhappy staff and students who believe they should first do something about their own high salaries, which no one knew about until details were leaked to the Fiji media last year.
SECRET NEGOTIATIONS
“At around the time that Tarr came in, the university had started restructuring so he was making some very important appointments,” explained Tuimaleali’ifano.
“He appointed four deans to the faculties as well as a new team in his administration. The team comprised a deputy Vice-Chancellor, three Pro-Vice Chancellors, a registrar who was already there and a director of finance who was also already there.
“So in addition to that management team were the four deans and Tarr secretly negotiated packages for all of them which no one, not even the council, knew about until the salary slips were leaked to the media last year. The salary slips revealed they were receiving exorbitant packages; on average, around F$250,000 each. The Vice-Chancellor was getting almost F$500,000, the deputy was getting around F$400,000 and everybody else was on around F$300,000 down to F$200,000 each.
“When it was leaked, the management denied it. The current acting Vice-Chancellor denied it and said it was erroneous, mischievous and misleading. The staff took the matter to the council and the council then set up a high-powered three-member committee to look into it. The committee did research in about six to nine months and when the council met again in October last year, the committee reported back and confirmed everything and added some more in that there were added perks.
“These additional perks included two cars for the Dean of Islands and Oceans, two deans were each given three free return fares a year as opposed to one for everyone else and the Vice-Chancellor was getting an additional F$60,000 a year for housing allowance in addition to a huge fantastic salary. Against that, the salary of one tutor is F$38,000 and a lecturer is on F$42,000 a year, while the vice-chancellor was getting around F$38,000 a month if you calculate his package and perks in dollar terms,” Tuimaleali’ifano said.
This is not the first time that Tarr has left behind a messy financial university business after prematurely ending his term in office.
Documents obtained by this magazine revealed that he had been associated with a similar situation at the Indiana University School of Law where he served as dean and professor prior to joining USP.
In her presentation to the Indiana University’s faculty council committee of the School of Law’s progress and which was part of the campus planning committee 2006-2007 annual report, then acting dean Susanah Mead wrote: “The whole meeting was focused on the School of Law recovery of financial distress.
“At one point the fund deficit reached $2.1 million. Last year, half of this deficit was eliminated. The cause of the deficit was mostly placed on the previous dean, Tony Tarr. He mismanaged hiring (excessive) and used soft money and encumbered funds for operating expenditures.”
IndyLaw’s news archive contained an article dated November 24, 2004, which reported that Tarr “will step down as dean of the Indiana University School of Law (Indianapolis)—to become leader of the University of the South Pacific.”
At USP, Tarr was instrumental in the setting up of IT investments that cost the university a F$1.4 million loss in 2006, when a total of F$1.79 million in investments in IT had to be written off. But his other legacy, the “exorbitant salaries” are not as easy to erase.
According to Tuimaleali’ifano, when the management salary package committee presented its findings at the October council meeting and shocked everyone, the council agreed that the leader of the committee should continue to negotiate with management on their packages in the hope they would reconsider and return to what they were getting previously. The other option would be to wait until the expiry of the contracts.
“The council also unanimously agreed that all the packages be made available to the public, just like everyone else’s. But until today, this has not been done,” he said.
Following a special AUSPS general meeting held in November last year in which USP’s financial crisis was discussed, suggestions were made by it in a letter to the USP Council chair Fiame Mata’afa for the immediate review of the controversial packages as “an initial step to redressing the financial crisis.”
Mata’afa’s response dated February 2, 2008, and addressed to Tuimaleali’ifano and AUSPS president Mahendra Reddy revealed this would not be legally possible.
“As members of the council, you will both know that this matter was discussed at the council and a resolution was passed regarding the matter. In the discussions, it was reported that the university’s legal advice was that the termination or variation of the contracts themselves would not be lawful,” Mata’afa wrote.
“I have reviewed the legal advice and have discussed the matter again with the university’s lawyers and I am satisfied the matter has been dealt with sufficiently by the council.”
The contracts, she said, were legally binding as they were entered into with Tarr, who, under the “Vice-Chancellor’s broad discretionary powers under clause 4(d) of the Staff Ordinance”, was within his own right to draw up such contracts.
To review or terminate them would expose the university to “considerable financial liability,” Mata’afa added.
This, however, had only poured salt to the wound. For against the background, USP was also still dealing with an unresolved issue—increase in professorial salary.
In last year’s May council meeting, minutes of which was obtained by ISLANDS BUSINESS, it was revealed that in order to be on par with other universities, USP had to increase the base salary of professors by at least 15.7 percent to make it attractive enough for professors to stay.
As the council had agreed some years ago that salaries be reviewed every three years, the third such review was due on January 1, 2007.
COST CUTTING
The council did approve the 15.7 percent increase but because this was expected to “have significant budgetary implications”, the council arrived at an understanding with AUSPS to stagger the increase under the formula of a 7.5 percent increase on January 1, 2007, 5 percent increase from January 1, 2008, backdated to January 1, 2007 and a 3.2 percent increase from January 1, 2009 backdated to January 1, 2007. The 5 percent increase due in January this year had not been paid, said Tuimaleali’ifano.
In the midst of this quandary, the students are said to be suffering as cost cutting measures being put in place are filtering down to them. “When Fiji came short (last year, Fiji, the biggest government contributor, allocated F$38 million against the F$41.3 million expected by USP and this year, it allocated F$36 million), the shortfall had to be covered from savings around the faculties,” said Tuimaleali’ifano.
“Tutors were terminated when they finished their contract and others were downgraded. Inside the faculties, unfilled positions were not filled and for anyone resigning during the year, that position disappeared. It’s sad because it is affecting students and teachers’ morale when the very ones who are bleeding or hemorrhaging the resources are the ones going around chasing people for not cutting costs. They are still getting their high salaries and no one has suggested to them to reconsider their salaries and more importantly, none of them has volunteered.”
USP’s state of financial disrepair is also expected to feature prominently on the agenda of USP member countries’ finance ministers who will meet on May 15, four days before the council sits.
Sources told this magazine there is a likelihood the formula of calculating government grants to USP would be reviewed to reflect the reality of the tough economic times in the islands.
-----
NOTE: This is the original version of an article published in the Islands Business Magazine (www.islandsbusiness.com) as: USP's tangled mess on council agenda. The article appeared under the Pacific Update section of the May 2008 issue of Islands Business; pp 14-15.
Islands Business is the flagship publication of Islands Business International.
-----
As teachers and students’ morale continue to sink at the Fiji-based main campus of the University of the South Pacific, the institution’s weak financial position and exorbitant salary packages enjoyed by its senior management are expected to top the agenda at this year’s first USP Council meeting, scheduled to take place in Tonga mid this month.
The salary packages are at the centre of rising tension between USP management and parties representing students and teachers within campus.
The fate of these packages are going to be known at this month’s Tonga meeting scheduled to be held on May 19-20, council member Dr Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano confirmed in an interview with ISLANDS BUSINESS.
Risking being slaughtered by the university’s disciplinary system, Tuimaleali’ifano said it was time USP affairs were put out in the public domain as the perceived “double standards” and “favouritism” were taking their toll on staff and students.
Earlier requests by ISLANDS BUSINESS for an interview with the university management have proved futile.
“Yes, this is a substantive item on the agenda. It is substantive because the subcommittee on the management packages has to report back to confirm the additional perks that were part of those packages.
“And secondly, they also have to report back on whether the contracts of those people—their contracts are going to expire at the end of the year—whether the contracts are going to be renewed.
“And if renewed, whether they are going to be renewed under the existing terms or if they are going to be reviewed in line with the reality of affordability in the region.
“That is, whether the member countries can afford these kinds of packages,” said Tuimaleali’ifano, who is a member of the USP Council, as well as vice-president of the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS).
Funded mainly by government grants from its 12 member countries and aid from donor partners, USP in recent times has been treading on shaky financial grounds after posting a substantial loss in 2006 and dealt a severe blow with the Fiji government decreasing its grant allocations in the last two years.
Believed to have begun when former Vice-Chancellor Anthony Tarr took up office in 2005, USP’s financial status has now weakened further to the extent where drastic cost cutting measures have been taken.
The controversy surrounding this is that while the highly paid senior management officials are executing the cost cutting measures, they are increasingly being pointed at by unhappy staff and students who believe they should first do something about their own high salaries, which no one knew about until details were leaked to the Fiji media last year.
SECRET NEGOTIATIONS
“At around the time that Tarr came in, the university had started restructuring so he was making some very important appointments,” explained Tuimaleali’ifano.
“He appointed four deans to the faculties as well as a new team in his administration. The team comprised a deputy Vice-Chancellor, three Pro-Vice Chancellors, a registrar who was already there and a director of finance who was also already there.
“So in addition to that management team were the four deans and Tarr secretly negotiated packages for all of them which no one, not even the council, knew about until the salary slips were leaked to the media last year. The salary slips revealed they were receiving exorbitant packages; on average, around F$250,000 each. The Vice-Chancellor was getting almost F$500,000, the deputy was getting around F$400,000 and everybody else was on around F$300,000 down to F$200,000 each.
“When it was leaked, the management denied it. The current acting Vice-Chancellor denied it and said it was erroneous, mischievous and misleading. The staff took the matter to the council and the council then set up a high-powered three-member committee to look into it. The committee did research in about six to nine months and when the council met again in October last year, the committee reported back and confirmed everything and added some more in that there were added perks.
“These additional perks included two cars for the Dean of Islands and Oceans, two deans were each given three free return fares a year as opposed to one for everyone else and the Vice-Chancellor was getting an additional F$60,000 a year for housing allowance in addition to a huge fantastic salary. Against that, the salary of one tutor is F$38,000 and a lecturer is on F$42,000 a year, while the vice-chancellor was getting around F$38,000 a month if you calculate his package and perks in dollar terms,” Tuimaleali’ifano said.
This is not the first time that Tarr has left behind a messy financial university business after prematurely ending his term in office.
Documents obtained by this magazine revealed that he had been associated with a similar situation at the Indiana University School of Law where he served as dean and professor prior to joining USP.
In her presentation to the Indiana University’s faculty council committee of the School of Law’s progress and which was part of the campus planning committee 2006-2007 annual report, then acting dean Susanah Mead wrote: “The whole meeting was focused on the School of Law recovery of financial distress.
“At one point the fund deficit reached $2.1 million. Last year, half of this deficit was eliminated. The cause of the deficit was mostly placed on the previous dean, Tony Tarr. He mismanaged hiring (excessive) and used soft money and encumbered funds for operating expenditures.”
IndyLaw’s news archive contained an article dated November 24, 2004, which reported that Tarr “will step down as dean of the Indiana University School of Law (Indianapolis)—to become leader of the University of the South Pacific.”
At USP, Tarr was instrumental in the setting up of IT investments that cost the university a F$1.4 million loss in 2006, when a total of F$1.79 million in investments in IT had to be written off. But his other legacy, the “exorbitant salaries” are not as easy to erase.
According to Tuimaleali’ifano, when the management salary package committee presented its findings at the October council meeting and shocked everyone, the council agreed that the leader of the committee should continue to negotiate with management on their packages in the hope they would reconsider and return to what they were getting previously. The other option would be to wait until the expiry of the contracts.
“The council also unanimously agreed that all the packages be made available to the public, just like everyone else’s. But until today, this has not been done,” he said.
Following a special AUSPS general meeting held in November last year in which USP’s financial crisis was discussed, suggestions were made by it in a letter to the USP Council chair Fiame Mata’afa for the immediate review of the controversial packages as “an initial step to redressing the financial crisis.”
Mata’afa’s response dated February 2, 2008, and addressed to Tuimaleali’ifano and AUSPS president Mahendra Reddy revealed this would not be legally possible.
“As members of the council, you will both know that this matter was discussed at the council and a resolution was passed regarding the matter. In the discussions, it was reported that the university’s legal advice was that the termination or variation of the contracts themselves would not be lawful,” Mata’afa wrote.
“I have reviewed the legal advice and have discussed the matter again with the university’s lawyers and I am satisfied the matter has been dealt with sufficiently by the council.”
The contracts, she said, were legally binding as they were entered into with Tarr, who, under the “Vice-Chancellor’s broad discretionary powers under clause 4(d) of the Staff Ordinance”, was within his own right to draw up such contracts.
To review or terminate them would expose the university to “considerable financial liability,” Mata’afa added.
This, however, had only poured salt to the wound. For against the background, USP was also still dealing with an unresolved issue—increase in professorial salary.
In last year’s May council meeting, minutes of which was obtained by ISLANDS BUSINESS, it was revealed that in order to be on par with other universities, USP had to increase the base salary of professors by at least 15.7 percent to make it attractive enough for professors to stay.
As the council had agreed some years ago that salaries be reviewed every three years, the third such review was due on January 1, 2007.
COST CUTTING
The council did approve the 15.7 percent increase but because this was expected to “have significant budgetary implications”, the council arrived at an understanding with AUSPS to stagger the increase under the formula of a 7.5 percent increase on January 1, 2007, 5 percent increase from January 1, 2008, backdated to January 1, 2007 and a 3.2 percent increase from January 1, 2009 backdated to January 1, 2007. The 5 percent increase due in January this year had not been paid, said Tuimaleali’ifano.
In the midst of this quandary, the students are said to be suffering as cost cutting measures being put in place are filtering down to them. “When Fiji came short (last year, Fiji, the biggest government contributor, allocated F$38 million against the F$41.3 million expected by USP and this year, it allocated F$36 million), the shortfall had to be covered from savings around the faculties,” said Tuimaleali’ifano.
“Tutors were terminated when they finished their contract and others were downgraded. Inside the faculties, unfilled positions were not filled and for anyone resigning during the year, that position disappeared. It’s sad because it is affecting students and teachers’ morale when the very ones who are bleeding or hemorrhaging the resources are the ones going around chasing people for not cutting costs. They are still getting their high salaries and no one has suggested to them to reconsider their salaries and more importantly, none of them has volunteered.”
USP’s state of financial disrepair is also expected to feature prominently on the agenda of USP member countries’ finance ministers who will meet on May 15, four days before the council sits.
Sources told this magazine there is a likelihood the formula of calculating government grants to USP would be reviewed to reflect the reality of the tough economic times in the islands.
-----
NOTE: This is the original version of an article published in the Islands Business Magazine (www.islandsbusiness.com) as: USP's tangled mess on council agenda. The article appeared under the Pacific Update section of the May 2008 issue of Islands Business; pp 14-15.
Islands Business is the flagship publication of Islands Business International.
-----
No comments:
Post a Comment