The faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro recently pulled together to raise money for the benefit of their staff members. The voluntary effort was spawned by acknowledgement of the incredibly low wages of staff at UNCG, which are not unlike the wages of staff members around the state, including Appalachian State University.
    Unlike faculty members, these staff members did not receive a raise last year from tuition hikes. There are 1,128 State Personnel Act employees at Appalachian, and they are among the lowest paid workers at the university.
    In fact, they are below average in terms of pay around North Carolina. The average statewide salary is $32,000, and Appalachian staff members receive on average $28,673. This low figure becomes a problem in a county with the third-highest cost of living in the state.
    The actions of the faculty at UNCG are commendable and should be a trendsetter in these tumultuous budget cut times.
    In the traditional spirit of giving in the Appalachian family, a similar action should be taken by our own faculty members.
    The initial interest shown by Faculty Senate to discuss making a similar move at their next meeting is encouraging, considering their lack of support last year for a tuition-hike proposal to raise staff salaries.
    Faculty Senate avoided making a statement about the tuition hike last year by tabling the motion until their next meeting. Their reasoning was students should not bear this burden and approving the motion would send a message to the N.C. legislature that it could relinquish its responsibility of providing a decent wage for state employees.
    This reasoning is conflicting, considering raising tuition $300 in 2001 for their own salaries was not a problem.
    Neither the burden of faculty or staff salaries should have been placed on students. Faculty Senate’s support of students is admirable, but hypocritical.
    Inconsistencies and the interesting motivation behind this change of heart within the Faculty Senate aside, the fact is staff salaries at Appalachian are much lower than they should be to create a comfortable living for these vital members of the Appalachian community.
    Luckily, there is a common ground on which to begin. Tuition hikes are not the answer to salary raises, but UNCG has shown that something can be done to help these staff members, even if it is in a small way.
    We encourage the faculty to be pro-active in this situation and make something happen.
    We stand behind any attempt made by the faculty to aid our staff members. And while we hold that the burden of salary is not ours to bear through tuition, it also should not be completely on the faculty to raise money for staff either.
    All of us at Appalachian benefit from the hard work staff members do, and we commit to efforts that will help them monetarily and also retain the spirit of family so prevalent on Appalachian’s campus.