April 25, 1999

To: The University Senate

From: Contractual Arrangements Committee

Re: Annual report of the activities of the Contractual Arrangements Committee

The committee devoted its attention to several items this past year including:

• Updating of the language in the Faculty Handbook on tuition remission and tuition exchange which was announced at the April meeting of the University Senate.
• Examination of vacation accrual policies of Bradley University and other comparable institutions.
• Reviewing and researching the Chapter 5 updating of the Faculty Handbook dealing with the Health Center.
• Developing a coming survey on health care issues.
• Developed a survey of faculty and staff preferences regarding possible alterations of the TIAA-CREF plan, which will be administered by Personnel and EEO-AA.
• Developing a pool of institutions that will serve as a benchmark for compensation and policy issues.
• Consulted with Provost Liberty and Vice-President Anna on several issues related to compensation.
• Documenting the Bradley University salary and compensation vis-a-vis IIA Comprehensive Institutions and the CUPA10.
• Examining TIAA-CREF options and IRS requirements for qualified retirement plans

Again, the number one issue on the committee's agenda is improving Bradley's sub-standard TIAA-CREF plan. Given that Bradley's below average ranking on total compensation can be traced primarily to its inferior retirement plan, and that this effects all faculty and staff at the university, the committee's position remains that fixing TIAA-CREF should be the university's number one priority.

In terms of overall strategy vis-a-vis compensation, the committee recommends the administration commit to the following three steps:

1. Raise Bradley's TIAA-CREF plan to that which is typical in comparable institutions.
2. Systematically document and resolve discipline specific equity problems
3. Allocate sufficient annual university resources to maintain the resulting compensation at level similar to our comparison institutions (e.g., CUPA10).

While the committee was somewhat encouraged by recent actions addressing the TIAA-CREF problem (e.g., Provost Liberty's budgeting addition money for the university's contribution), it is disappointed that the issue is not yet resolved. The committee has been actively working with the administration on TIAA-CREF for three years. The committee sees little reason why decisions cannot made during the 1999-2000 academic year on the nature and phase-in of an improved TIAA-CREF plan. The university's financial condition is very good and there are viable alternatives for meeting the IRS requirements for qualified retirement plans.

Respectfully Submitted