In the wake of a lawsuit, UF has delayed its proposal to give faculty members a 3 percent raise to offset a state requirement for public employees to contribute the same amount to their retirement.
Teachers unions and other public employees have filed suit against the state of Florida claiming it's illegal to require teachers to contribute to their own retirement, President Bernie Machen announced at a Faculty Senate meeting Thursday.
Machen said he has asked trustees to approve the 3 percent raise regulation pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
"I really am inclined to do this," he said. "This could be a moment in time where we really help our faculty with a 3 percent raise."
Machen also announced that he will ask trustees to raise undergraduate tuition the full 15 percent allowed for next year.
Two-thirds of the undergraduate class graduated with no debt last year, he said. The remaining one-third of students had an average debt of $16,000, about $9,000 less than the national average.
"This remains a remarkably good value for students," he said.
