Maintaining an outstanding system of higher education requires investments in the faculty members who cultivate the human capital upon which our economy's recovery and future growth will depend. Sadly, the record of the last three decades shows that, when measured by the inflation-adjusted salaries paid to college faculty members or by the proportion of college courses taught by full-time tenure-line faculty, our nation is failing at this task. This report therefore calls on our faculty colleagues to take an active role in collaborative decision making on institutional spending decisions, to examine critically the claims of administrations and legislatures alike regarding the financial situation of higher education, and to raise questions about the inevitability and the advisability of cuts to faculty salaries and positions. Appended are faculty compensation data by state. (Contains 6 figures, 2 tables, and 1 note.)