Yeah, I know, you're all shocked by this. "Texas A&M faculty are protesting plans to give $2,500 - $10,000 bonuses to the Top 15% of faculty solely on the basis of student evaluations." I will tell you from personal experience at my University that merit pay of any kind is frowned upon by the majority of the faculty here. It is why our latest faculty contract has nearly universal across-the-board pay raises with a small pittance to merit. Of course, one could always get better evaluations by becoming a 'creampuff' and giving out easy grades, but that will only go so far. On average, good teachers will always get better evaluations than those that are bad. Thus the protest.
Here's a dubious quote: "I don't think faculty are going to pander to students for a few thousand dollars," said Traci Carte, an associate professor of management information systems." Uhhh... actually yes. Yes they would.
