To the editor:

I’d like to offer a different perspective on your Nov. 19 editorial “Salary priority.” Kansas University staff — both unclassified and university support staff — haven’t received a pay raise in two years either. The issue of stagnant salaries is larger than just faculty.

As your editorial points out, high-quality employees leave when salaries are stagnant and alternative forms of compensation and acknowledgment are not found.

Rising costs and static salaries create a de facto pay cut. On the whole, staff earn less than faculty, so we are hit disproportionally hard by this situation. Unclassified staff have been let go because of budget cuts. Staff and faculty positions have been left open because of empty coffers.

I applaud the editorial’s call for faculty salary increases, but the university community is made up of more than just faculty. Unclassified and university support staff workers deserve the same consideration — and raises — that come to faculty members.

I hope the Board of Regents and incoming Kansas Legislature fund higher education across the state to keep it the vital resource, economic engine and investment in the growth and vitality of the state that we know it is.

Phil Wilke, president,

KU Unclassified Senate