Comment:
This, in turn, would set a new, higher standard for salary among teaching faculty.  By the time the rest of us are raised to that standard we should be sitting pretty.

Response:
Wrong. What are most of us teaching that can not be taught at a hundred other universities? I think I am a pretty good band director but there happen to be a lot of pretty good band directors out there. Certainly there are more band directors than "SIM" qualified researchers. Salaries are based on a type of intellectual market... if you have the same knowledge as a large number of other people... you don't get paid as much. Funny how that works. Guess what... when I want a raise... I will move... see... thats how they told us it works when I was in my doctoral seminar:

1. Bargain your best salary coming in because compression will kill you
2. Renegotiate when you prove you can do something other than complain
3. Use lateral moves between institutions to develop higher income
4. Stay connected with your peers as they progress through the ranks and hit them up for higher paying jobs when they become department heads and deans
5. Apply for gigs every two or three years to keep yourself fresh and see what the market requires
6. If you get offerred a better job.... TAKE IT.

Well, in retrospect, the above looks much like what people in "regular" jobs have to go through. We special intellectuals ought not to be faced with such cold realities. We should get paid more just cause we have learnin. If we are going to start talking about fair salaries we should pay each person the same whether faculty or staff. Otherwise, you are just as guilty of submitting to the intellectual market as those you complain about. The philosopher in me sees the obvious conflation here folks so don't bother picking it apart. The case could be made though, and has been throughout history, that all tasks are equally important... it is simply a matter of timing and availability. For instance.... when you are being beaten to death in the parking lot... the hourly paid campus police officer might be more important to you at that moment than say... a salaried Chancellor or Provost (no offense guys... I am not slighting your ability to "open up a can" on someone). The importance and relative merit of the knowledge or ability is directly related to the proximity of the person possessing it to the person requiring it. Otherwise, it (salary) must be based on intellectual content (specific knowledge gained and based on levels of speciality which acquire additional merit and value through the limited number of individuals possessing said knowledge and the ease or difficulty with which this knowledge can be obtained or transferred). If not this... then what? 

Folks... I am not saying that we are all getting exactly what we deserve. I am saying that some of us are... some of us are getting more... some of us are getting less... and some of us are lucky to have a job. But... and here's what you're going to hate... the "SIMS" people are also being paid acccording to their field... some a little more... some a little less. There is a ray of hope for those of you still concerned over the income of others... you can go back to school and learn what they know... then you can make that kind of money too. Or you can struggle to make the argument that sectioned introductory courses offerred by some institutions via video and internet are just as marketable as these highly specialized engineering fields. This, however, like my younger daughter, simply doesn't hold water so bring a towel to clean up the mess.

stuart