Professors and students from across the California State University lined up at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting last month to protest the sixth student fee increase in as many years, as well as the trustees’ recent decision to increase executive pay by 4 percent for next year.
At the meeting, the trustees approved a raise for 28 top executives, declaring that competitive salaries must be offered to attract and retain outstanding officials.
The trustees also said that their executives are still paid below the average standard, even with the raise.
The CSU system, the largest public university in the country, has more than 400,000 students, who are facing a fee increase next year of roughly 10 percent, amounting to a total of approximately $2,772, plus various campus fees totaling $680.
“”Stop ripping us off,”” Cal Poly Pomona student Rocio Navarro told trustees at the meeting. “”Students should be a priority, but lately you seem to be more concerned about taking care of your executive friends.””
The raises would go to the presidents of each of the system’s 23 universities, as well as CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed and four of his top deputies. Reed’s annual pay would go from $362,500 to $377,000.
Students, however, were not the only ones angry over the trustees’ decision. Representatives from the university’s 23,000 faculty members, who are currently stalled in a contract dispute, also expressed displeasure at the meeting. They said that faculty were prepared to strike if the faculty union and trustees are unable to agree on a contract soon.
Professors have complained to the board that are they are not making enough money to support their families and have said that the university will deteriorate if junior faculty members continue leaving due to California’s high cost of living, even staging a sit-in at the trustees’ meeting in November.
“”You have not grasped the concern and the level of outrage among faculty,”” Cal State Dominguez Hills music professor David Bradfield said at the meeting.
CSU students are not the only ones facing fee increases for this year.
UC undergraduates, who already pay approximately $7,000 in annual mandatory student fees, are facing a 7-percent fee hike. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bought out fee increases from both systems last year, but has said he will not do so again this year.
Both the UC Board of Regents and the CSU Board of Trustees will vote on their respective student fee increase proposals in March.