Professorial Pay

While you make some valid points in the article on South Orange County Community College District salaries (Sept. 15), there is one paragraph that I simply can’t let slide without comment.

In comparing Saddleback and Irvine Valley College salaries with those of the four-year universities in Orange County, you state that “it stands to reason that professors [at a four-year university] would earn more money than they do at two-year community colleges, which many see as a remedial bridge between high school and the upper-class college experience.”

Only somebody who knows absolutely nothing about community college would view it as “remedial.”

There are any number of reasons that students attend community college instead of a four-year school. Some attend for financial reasons, others can only attend college part time due to family- or job-related reasons.

But I’ve taught at Saddleback College for eight years and I have yet to teach a “remedial” class. My classes, as well as those of my colleagues, are demanding, freshman- and sophomore-level college classes.

And does it “stand to reason” that I should be paid less than my counterparts at the four-year institutions? No. Why should it? On the average, I’m in the classroom more than my four-year counterparts. I’m available for consultation daily (which my students constantly take advantage of). My labs and extra study sessions are run by me, not a graduate assistant. I personally grade all the students’ work (again, no graduate assistant).

While thankfully free of the “publish or perish” syndrome of the four-year schools, I am still expected to keep up in my field and remain active professionally.

Maybe you feel that all professors are paid too much. So be it, but don’t insult my students and colleagues by implying that our work is somehow less worthy than that being done at the universities.

NORMAN WESTON

Professor of music

Saddleback College