Competitive salaries: A 4 percent pay raise for CSU presidents is fair

Press-Telegram 1/26/07

There certainly are problems with some of the executive compensation policies in the California State University - namely allowing former officials to stay on the payroll for a year after they quit - but the recent pay raise for campus presidents is not among them.

A 4 percent hike is hardly scandalous, particularly when it's not to much greater than 2006's rate of inflation, 2.6 percent. The CSU should attract and retain talented educators to lead some of the West's biggest campuses. The pool of qualified applicants is not as large as one might think, and the 23-campus university system, which is based in downtown Long Beach, somehow manages to attract quality applicants with below-market wages.

With the raise, CSU presidents will earn $239,000 to $377,000 this year, as well as free housing or housing subsidies of up to $60,000. That's a lot of money, but it's well below the national average of $500,000 for campus presidents, according to USA Today.

Many presidents, particularly at exclusive private colleges, earn more than $1 million a year (nearly the average for Division I college football coaches, by the way), and if Californians want their colleges led by competitive people they are going to have to offer packages that achieve the delicate balance of attracting talent without compromising the CSU's mission of providing affordable education.

The role of a college president increasingly requires the skills of not only a top researcher, educator and administrator but a CEO who can find, raise and manage money. Few would blink if a chief executive of a company with 35,000 employees - about the number of students at CSULB - earned $377,000. Keeping talented educators in public education should be a goal for California.

Not giving CSU presidents pay raises could threaten the quality of applicants. And after getting to know five CSULB presidents - F. King Alexander, Bob Maxson, Karl Anatol (interim), Curtis McCray and Steve Horn - we would argue that the faculty, students and taxpayers have gotten a good return on their investment in human capital.

The pay raise for campus presidents, the chancellor and his four top lieutenants is really an issue only because it arrives at an inopportune time. Students are looking at a proposed 10 percent tuition increase - to $2,772 plus about $680 in other fees - and the faculty union wants a new contract.

This is one of the consequences of the governor's proposed budget, but it does not mean that presidents should go without a bump. We hope there is a way for the CSU to work out deals for executives and faculty - they deserve competitive packages as well - without burdening students or taxpayers.