The College of Business might lose several senior faculty members if the state does not offer them a pay increase of 10 percent or more, said Richard Brown, dean of the college.

“The state is not willing to make an investment in higher education,” Brown said. “If faculty are convinced that the state is not likely to make a commitment, then 10 or 12 faculty members (from the College of Business) will leave.”

Brown said a salary increase of at least 10 percent is needed to retain faculty because the salaries for NIU business faculty are $20,000 a year below the market price for teaching at a comparable school.

“Even with a 10 percent raise, we would still be $12,000 to $18,000 under the market,” Brown said. He said three or four faculty members are interviewing for new jobs now.

Wilma Stricklin, associate dean of the College of Business, said losing faculty would be difficult for the business program because of the reputation it has built. “We have worked very hard for 10 years. This could set us back rather drastically,” she said.

“I don’t know how long it would take us to recover if we had to replace key senior faculty,” Stricklin said.

“These (the people that might leave) are the ones that have built impressive records here. We will be losing those that have made an investment here,” Brown said.

An increase in funding for higher education will be difficult to obtain this year because Illinois legislators seeking re-election are hesitant to lobby for tax increases, Brown said.

“Higher education will be decimated. Those schools with the best national reputations will suffer proportionately more than those that don’t,” he said.

“Programs of the highest national reputation will be most likely to lose faculty,” Brown said.

Brown said the faculty who leave could not be replaced immediately with teachers of “equal caliber” because it is too late to recruit faculty of that quality for the fall 1988 semester.

“We begin looking for faculty one year in advance,” Brown said. As a result, higher division classes might be taught by less experienced faculty. “This will make a significant difference in the quality of the programs,” he said.

In addition, the recruiting process for business faculty is different than in other situations, Brown said. “When looking for new faculty, we identify people around the country and go after them,” he said.

Wayne Albrecht, assistant dean of the College of Business, said NIU’s business faculty will receive more job offers due to their quality. “They are the first ones we will lose,” he said.

Albrecht said he is optimistic about a future salary increase for the business faculty. “I am not sure it (an increase) will be enough to correct the problem, but something will occur,” he said.