It is unfair to demand faculty members repay portions of their salary back to the college because of a contract error made by the administration.
Incorrect contract information was given to full-time faculty with a teaching requirement for the 24-25 academic year of one class during the Summer I semester, when actually it was two.
Anonymous sources leaked audio recordings on YouTube of a Nov. 5 meeting when the chancellor, general counsel and chief human resources officer informed faculty privately about the error.
Chancellor Elva LeBlanc admitted in a statement to The Collegian after that meeting that “faculty members were provided with incorrect information contrary to TCC policy and state law.”
Admitting an error isn’t any form of an apology, especially when it’s done after the error is exposed by someone else. It also doesn’t change the financial impact on faculty at a time when many people are struggling to afford their basic needs.
The college’s offer of flexible repayment plans is great, but this will still hurt the instructors, no matter how little they may owe.
Even if someone were told they owed $200 without forewarning, it would be financially damaging.
Faculty salaries are based on their degree, years of experience, what they’re teaching and their contract schedule. The base can range from $64,000 to $82,000 for full-time 170-day contracts to 192-day contracts, according to the 2024-2025 Annual Compensation Plan.
The salary needed to live comfortably in Fort Worth for a single adult is $94,800 and for two adults with two children is $214,490, according to a 2024 SmartAssest study done by gathering the cost of living including housing, food and transportation.
Instructors aren’t paid a livable salary, and the board is forcing faculty to pay for their mistake because it’s taxpayer money.
These employees signed a contract, fulfilled the requirements within that contract, and the college compensated them accordingly. Now the college is not holding up their end of contract.
If the college is at the will of taxpayers, were taxpayers informed of the administration’s error before demanding our faculty to pay them back?
Why wasn’t there a board vote to authorize faculty to pay back taxpayers when they thought they were abiding by the correct requirements?
The board oversees a budget of over $400 million and decides how taxpayer money is spent by the college. It will vote on Nov. 20 to authorize $551,565 for the chancellor’s salary.
Truth is, our college wouldn’t be able to pay a chancellor over $500,000 if it weren’t for the faculty dedicated to us students for 170 days, 192 days, 10.5 months or 12 months, on and off the clock.
This news came right after a Compensation and Classification Study that stated 45% of employees are underpaid.
To say the only way the issue can be solved is for our instructors to pay for an administrative error is hard to swallow.
The Collegian staff believes there should be an open conversation about how to support our faculty during this time and for our college to approach mistakes like this in the future with integrity.
Because what is the administration telling students when they don’t?
