There's a bit of a flap in my state university system, the Minnesota State College and University system (MnSCU - pronounced "Min-skew"), over a news piece on sabbaticals in the system. The gist of the piece is that sabbaticals are paid vacations and faculty do little more than sit on their butts and sip tropical drinks. Here's King Banaian, a fellow economist and MnSCU brother at St. Cloud St.:
I'm in my 26th year of service at SCSU, and so far have had one year (back when it was 2/3 pay for a year-long sabbatical rather than 80%.) My work that year and two more years, during which the university did not pay me but expected me to return to repay my sabbatical -- more on this below -- lead eventually to a third year away to work as an adviser at the National Bank of Ukraine and to my first book. I'd vehemently disagree with the idea that I 'took time off'. Indeed, the KSTP report cannot deny that these faculty members on sabbatical were in fact improving themselves. Sabbatical is not vacation. In 2007-08, throughout our system, here's what the sabbaticals were used for:
- Professional development 26%
- Curriculum development 32%
- Education 18%
- Research 22%
I am currently on sabbatical. Many people will go to another university to teach or do research during their sabbaticals. They do so to immerse themselves in a different academic culture, to get different ideas, and to broaden themselves in their discipline. I chose not to go anywhere because I have two young boys that my wife and I are raising. I don't want to be away for a long time at this point in their lives. You know the old saying: they grow up fast.
It's important to realize that a sabbatical is part of the overall compensation package and faculty are supposed to give something in return for their compensation. Here's King again.
So here's the real point, if you want to get to the dollars. If you tell me I have to do this job and never take a sabbatical, I would like to be compensated for giving up that right. Suppose my union and the state negotiate a 10% wage increase in return for the lost right. If I'm only guaranteed sabbatical every ten years, I only get one reassigned semester a decade. The state pays someone to replace me for that semester, and probably will not pay 50% of my salary, since that person is likely to be a lower-paid instructor (a young person just out of graduate school.) Are you better off or worse off, taxpayer-dollar-wise? And in the long-run, am I a better or worse instructor for having that time of rest, reflection and retraining?
MnSCU is contractually obligated to give faculty a chance at sabbaticals. In order to get a sabbatical, a faculty member must apply for one, an application that includes a proposal which describes the faculty member's intended activities. I proposed to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time: dig deep into the professional economic research on college sports. I have published 8 papers in professional journals at this time (my most recent publication is in this issue of Applied Economics) and I have several working papers in various stages of production. All but two of my papers have dealt with Major League Baseball in one way or another and I wanted to branch out.
In my proposal, I said I would write four research papers on college sports with the hope of turning the research into a book. I usually end up writing one or two papers during an academic year, so I'm using my sabbatical time to do more research than normal.
My university was contractually obligated to allow me to apply for sabbatical. It followed through on its end of the bargain and granted me leave. I am now contractually obligated to follow through on my proposal, something that when all is said and done, I will also do.