Stipends
Administrative Staff
Administrative staff members almost always have 12-month, salaried positions where the expectation is that, while the minimum work-week is 40 hours, they will work more than that if the job requires it. They use their judgment on this, and there is no “comp time.” Salaried administrators have latitude within broad constraints (e.g., support of supervisor, need to work closely or not with others, need for their office to be open and available during specified hours) regarding exactly when they will be in the office and when not.
In this model, twelve-month administrative staff members, and “less-than-12-month” administrators during their scheduled working months, do not receive stipends for taking on extra duties related to their jobs because the extra duties would, in consultation with a supervisor, necessarily either replace existing duties or would be duties the staff member would normally assume. When the extra duties represent activities that are clearly beyond the current scope of the job and when the new duties represent work that is normally compensated at a level greater than the salary of the administrator, our approach, on a case by case basis, has been to consider building the new duties into the job description and adjusting salary permanently to reflect expanded responsibility, not pay a special stipend. We have done this in several such cases.
In the case where the administrative staff person is asked by another department to perform duties that are unrelated to their job description but for which that person is particularly well-suited, and where, if the staff person is unable to perform the duty a person outside the University would be hired to do it, a stipend may be available. In this case, the staff person who is asked to perform the special duty must consult with his or her supervising divisional vice president who will ultimately decide if a stipend can be paid. The divisional vice president responsible for the department paying the stipend must also formally approve it, in advance.
Guidelines for Administrators Teaching
St. Lawrence recognizes the many mutual benefits of having administrative staff teach on occasion in the First-Year Program and in departmental courses. Direct interaction with students can inspire and energize those who choose to work in higher education administration, and teaching helps staff understand the demands of the faculty roles. Students benefit from having the perspective of dedicated employees who know the institution and who have professional and academic experts to share.
Administrators are hired to complete work the University deems necessary. So their first priority is to assure that work is done as well and as thoroughly as possible. On occasion, with the following guidelines in mind, an administrator may consider teaching, with a stipend, if:
*The commitment is planned at least a semester in advance; and
*The senior staff member of the administrator’s division approves the plan before the staff member is invited; and
*Teaching is an additional duty, not a substitute duty; and
*No funds are expended for temp, part-time or other substitute workers in the administrator’s office or division because of the teaching; and
*Both the senior staff member of the administrator as well as the vice president and dean of academic affairs approve the stipend, as per the Stipend for Administrators Policy, which allows for stipends when the work is clearly and permanently outside the job description of the administrator and when the University would expend the same funds on an adjunct or other contingent employee.
*Senior Staff members will not receive a stipend for teaching under any circumstances.
Approved by Senior Staff March 29, 2018
Faculty
The situation for faculty brings with it some different dynamics. First of all, while faculty are paid their salaries over a period of 12 months, their assigned duties are limited to the academic year, including time before and after the semester to prepare for classes and complete grading. Non-term time is “unscheduled” time. Administrative staff members on twelve-month appointments have no equivalent “unscheduled” time. So, when we ask faculty members to take on a project outside of term time, it is appropriate that we offer a stipend and in most cases we do.
Within term time we offer faculty stipends only under some well-defined circumstances. Faculty members have a clearly defined (by department and discipline) “teaching load.” When we ask a faculty member to take on additional teaching responsibilities beyond the normal teaching load, because it is impossible (or at least very difficult) to reduce other duties associated with advising students, engaging in scholarship, and being involved in University service, we provide an overload stipend. This is a long-standing policy, and one that is in effect at other colleges and universities. We also provide extra compensation, and/or appropriate course load reduction, for faculty members serving in such roles as department or program chairs or grant administrators. This is equivalent to the administrative case, defined above. We do not provide stipends for other shifts in a faculty member’s duties during term time, except in cases where it would be necessary to hire someone external to the University to perform the specific duties that a faculty member may be willing to perform for extra compensation, but that are not part of their central responsibilities. The Dean of Academic Affairs must be consulted and approve in advance faculty proposals to accept opportunities such as this if they occur during term time.
More complicated are the cases of staff members who serve in direct support of teaching, or staff members who regularly, as part of their normal loads, engage in teaching. In some of these cases, where appropriate, the faculty grants faculty by exception status. Under these circumstances, the stipend issue is governed by the faculty rather than the administrative policy. Librarians, as faculty members, are covered by the faculty stipend policy. Academic support personnel are covered by the administrative stipend policy.
We recognize, even with the above clarification, that there will still be ambiguities that we will have to resolve on a case-by-case basis. But these principles provide the policy framework for the way in which we will resolve those cases.