A senior administrator this week warned professors that this will be a bad year for raises at the University of Cincinnati and next year could be worse, faculty negotiator John Cuppoletti said Friday.

        He said the caution came during contract talks on Thursday when James D. Plummer, director of budget planning, described anticipated UC income and expected expenses.

        “We can't tell whether their projections are right or wrong,” Dr. Cuppoletti said, “but we expect very difficult negotiations.”

        Mr. Plummer's presentation put numbers on what other UC officials have been saying for months, that UC lacks money to grant its faculty the raises they want.

        Dr. Cuppoletti, a UC physiologist and head of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) negotiating team, said UC officials also shared details of unspent funds that totaled $78 million in 1999.

        He welcomed that information, saying it made clear what money could not be used for salaries and suggested that even if the funds were available, AAUP might not want to spend them, given the purposes for which they are intended.

        “My understanding is that they are working hard and doing fact-finding,” UC spokesman Greg Hand said. Beyond that, he said, it was UC's policy not to comment on what happened during negotiations.

        Handicapping UC is a lack of new state money for salaries, the possibility of fewer students as tuition rises, and “pretty flat” income for research, Dr. Cuppoletti said.

        Even UC's partial hiring freeze and cuts in administrative and academic budgets didn't produce a pot of gold for faculty, he added.

        Thursday's was the second negotiating session on the 3-year contract that begins after the current pact expires on Aug. 31.

        The next bargaining session is set for Wednesday and, Dr. Cuppoletti said, “We haven't gotten to the hard stuff yet.”

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