The following transcription of a draft copy of a report on the University of Chicago salary scale for instructional staff from ca. 1919 is interesting because it begins with a brief chronology of the salary scale from the founding of the University of Chicago to the time of the report. Since pay raises were being recommended, figures are given for other universities for comparison. The ratio between a Head professor to a beginning assistant professor was 3.5 to 1 during the early years of the University of Chicago. The compression was relatively minor by 1919, with the committee recommending a ratio of 3.33 to 1. For nearly the first thirty years the top salary for a professor at the University of Chicago was $7000.
Handwritten additions to the draft are indicated by the use of italics in the transcription that follows.
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REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON SALARY SCALE
The Board of Trustees,
The University of Chicago,
Gentlemen:
The Committee appointed at the May meeting of the Board herewith submits the following report on the scale of salaries in the teaching staff of the University with recommendations for the modifications of the same.
At the time of the organization of the University in the autumn of 1891, the following scale of salaries was informally determined:
Head Professor, $4000, to $5000.
Professor, $3000.
Associate Professor, $2500.
Assistant Professor, for a four year term, $2000.
Instructor, for a three year term, $1200, $1400, $1600.
Associate, for a two year term, $1000, $1100.
In the minutes of the Board there is no record of this definite scale, which the various actions recorded implied. At the November meeting, 1891, the salary of the Head Professors was fixed at $6000. At the December meeting, 1891, it was increased to $7000. This change in the salary of a Head Professor, was due to obvious circumstances connected with securing suitable men for the new institution. No change was made in the rest of the scale.
In 1894 and thereafter new Head Professors were appointed, but on the original scale of $4000 to $5000. It thus appears, although not specifically recorded in the minutes of the Board, that the $7000 salaries were merely adapted at the organization of the University as a temporary expedient.
In 1907 the salary question was again taken into consideration by the Board. It was plain that the salary of a Professor, $3000, was too low, and that a general reorganization was desirable. At the meeting of the Board in December, 1907, it was tentatively agreed, 1st: that for members of the permanent staff in each of the three grades a maximum and a minimum salary shall be fixed, and that for any individual within those grades the exact salary paid shall depend, not on the time of service, but on the discretion of the Board, and, 2nd: that for members of the Faculty appointed for a term of years, a maximum and a minimum salary shall be fixed, with advances depending on term of service.
At the meeting of the Board in January, 1908, the following salary scale was enacted:
Heads of Departments, maximum [sic] $4000, minimum [sic], $6000.
Professors not Heads of Departments, Minimum, $3000; Maximum, $4500.
Associate Professor, Minimum, $2500; Maximum, $3000.
Assistant Professor, four years, $2000; On reappointment, $2500.
Instructors, three years, $1200, $1400, $1600; On reappointment, $1800.
Associates, two years, $1000 to $1200.
* * * * * *
At the meeting of the Board in January, 1911, it was voted that thereafter the administration of Departments should ordinarily be conducted by a chairman, to be appointed by the President, to serve three years, at the end of which term a new Chairman shall be appointed or the same one reappointed.
At the meeting in February, 1908, action was taken ratifying the action of the Trustees of the Baptist Theological Union, of the previous day. Scale of salaries in the Divinity School was enacted as follows:
Heads of Departments, Minimum, $3500; Maximum, $4500.
Professors not Heads of Departments, Minimum, $3000; Maximum, $4000.
The remaining scale as in the Faculties of Arts, Literature, and Science.
It was also voted that salaries paid or ranks given to members of a Department shall be determined without reference to the method of departmental administration, and that whenever the interest of the University seems to make it desirable, more than one person in the same Department may be given the maximum rank and salary.
Considering conditions relative to the cost of living, it becomes desirable now in all institutions of learning so far as practicable to provide larger salaries. This matter is receiving similar consideration throughout the country. In the University of Michigan the State Legislature made an additional appropriation of $300,000.00 at its last session for the purpose of increasing salaries. The scale was altered for Professors from the former rate of minimum $2500 and maximum $4000, to a minimum of $3200 and a maximum usually of $5000. Several have been advanced to $5500, and a small number to $6000. The increase in the salaries of Professors has reached an average of approximately 25%. Associate Professors have been advanced from a scale of $2100 to $2400, to a scale of $2800 to $3100, the advance in individual cases being about twenty five percent.
Assistant Professors are advanced from a scale of $1500 to $2000, to a scale of $2200 to $2700, the increase being about 30%.
Instructors are advanced from a scale of $900 to $1600, to a scale of $1300 to $2100, an increase of about 30%.
In Yale University the salary of an Associate Professor isadvanced to $3500, being about 30% increase. The salary of Assistant Professors isadvanced to $2500 for three years and $3000 for two additional years, or about 20%. Instructors for four years have salaries ranging from $1250 to $2000, at an increase of 25%. In the Law School the maximum for Professors isadvanced from $7000 to $7500. The present scale for Professors is at a minimum of $4000 and a maximum of $6000. It is intended to increase that in the autumn at a probable rate of about 25% in individual cases. The new maximum is therefore not yet enacted.
In Harvard the present scale of Professors salaries has a minimum of $4000 and a maximum of $5500; Associate Professors at $3500—after five years service—$4000; Assistant Professors, for the first five years, $2500, for the second five years, $3000; Instructors ranging from $1000 to $1500. Harvard is engaged in a plan for raising an $11,000,000 endowment, the greater part of which is to be used for salaries.
Columbia University has not an exact scale. Professors’ salaries range from $4000 to $15,000. There are twenty receiving a salary of $6000, eight a salary of $6500 to $7000. Those whose salaries are above $7000 are mostly in professional schools. There are thirty with a salary of $5000. No immediate change in the salary scale is contemplated.
In the University of Pennsylvania the maximum for a full time professorship is $8000. As a matter of fact there are very few whose salaries are $6000, or more. It is intended to make an increase of 20% for all receiving $4000 or $6000, 10% for all receiving over $6000, and 20% for all receiving less than $4000. This increase is to come into effect in the autumn of 1919.
Under all the circumstances and with the funds available from the present income of the University the committee recommends the following:
PROPOSED NEW SCALE.
In the Faculties of Arts, Literature and Sciences.
Professor, Minimum, $4000; Maximum, $7000.
Associate Professor, Minimum, $3000; Maximum, $3600.
Assistant Professor, Minimum, $2100; Maximum, $2700.
Instructors, for three years, $1500, $1600, $1700. On reappointment to a maximum of $2000.
Associates, for two years, $1200, $1300.
In the Faculty of the Divinity School.
Professor, Minimum, $4000; Maximum, $5000.
Other ranks as in Arts, Literature and Science.
In the Faculty of the Law School.
Professor, Minimum of $6000, increased by $500 at the end of each three years of satisfactory service to a maximum of $8500. For Assistant and Associate Professors no change. These last appointments in the Law School are usually temporary and a considerable flexibility is desirable. It is recommended that for the Faculty of the Law School the new scale take effect fro the fiscal year 1920-1921. It will involve an addition of $5250 to the budget of that year over the present budget of 1919-1920.
Respectfully Submitted
[Signed] M. A. Ryerson
H. G. Grey
H. P. Judson
Source: University of Chicago Archives. Office of the President. Harper, Judson and Burton Administrations. Records. Box 76. Folder: 4, “Salaries, 1916-1920”.
Image Source: 1894 University of Chicago Convocation. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf3-00416, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.