CSU student, faculty unrest growing over tuition, salary
Union-Tribune 1/25/07
At a meeting yesterday, California State University trustees saw signs of the growing drama over financial pressures within the nation's largest state university system.
CSU's 417,000 students are facing a 10 percent fee increase, the sixth tuition increase since 2001. The 23,000 faculty members argue they are losing financial ground over their ongoing contract dispute with the CSU administration.
Trustees expressed frustration that their funding is controlled primarily by the state Legislature and the governor's office, so they have little recourse on financial issues.
Music professor David Bradfield of CSU Dominguez Hills accused trustees of being out of touch with the growing discontent at the system's 23 campuses, where faculty members have been walking picket lines.
“You have not grasped the level of outrage,” said Bradfield, wearing the faculty union's slogan on a T-shirt: “I do not want to strike, but I will.”
CSU professors have become so angry that they staged a sit-in at the trustees' previous meeting in November. They have complained repeatedly to trustees that the system will deteriorate in quality if they keep losing junior faculty and scaring off new recruits who can't afford California's generally high cost of living.
Nursing student Nina de la Vina chided trustees for approving a 4 percent pay increase for executives this week that raises their top pay to $239,000 to $377,000 annually, in addition to housing and car allowances many of them get that are worth more than $70,000 per year.
“Students should be your priority, not executives,” de la Vina said.
CSU undergraduates currently pay about $3,000 annually in tuition and fees.
Student Edgar Ibarra told trustees he represented a coalition of student activists, one of many that have organized in the past three years, both fighting fee increases and supporting the faculty in its quest for higher compensation.
“This is about all the students in the barrio who are discouraged away from college because of all the fee increases,” Ibarra said.
CSU increased student fees last year but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger increased the system's budget to cover those costs. In his proposed budget, the governor did not offer to buy out tuition increases for CSU or University of California students, who also face fee increases.
UC students are campaigning against a 7 percent fee increase for undergraduates and a 10 percent increase for law and business school students.
Currently, California resident UC undergraduates pay about $6,852 in annual student fees, and professional student fees vary.
UC regents are expected to vote on the fee increases in March.