Viewpoint: CSU is closing gaps in salaries
SLO Tribune, 10/2/07
Unless we are able to improve our position in the marketplace, the CSU system will cease to be a destination for the best leaders and scholars, and our value to California’s economy will erode.
For some, there will never be a good time to give CSU presidents and executives a salary increase. However, delaying or abandoning compensation increases would not be wise.
For years, CSU salaries for faculty, executives and other groups of employees have lagged those of their peers at other higher education institutions, creating dissatisfaction among employees and continued recruitment challenges for faculty, staff and presidents. To correct this situation, the CSU board of trustees created a long-term plan to make compensation more competitive for all employees.
While we have made progress on closing the salary gap compared to the market with some employee classifications, a number are still lagging behind. For example, CSU faculty salaries lag about 15.2 percent below the market, and we are hopeful that in four years, we can reduce that lag to between 1.5 percent and 4.5 percent, depending on funding from the state and assuming a 3 percent market increase. CSU campus presidents face a salary lag of 46 percent behind their peers at comparable institutions, and salary lags for individual presidents range from 27 percent to 66 percent.
To close the salary gap for executives at the same proportions as faculty classifications in the current year, the salary increase would need to be 18.8 percent. The recently approved average salary increase of 11.8 percent will still leave our executives about 35 percent below market.
We share the concerns of students, faculty and the public that our university is underfunded. The CSU system has still not recovered the more than half-billion dollar cut in our budget between 2001 and 2003. The system’s compact with the governor has prevented further cuts to our budget and provided increases to our base funding since the 2005-06 fiscal year.
Taking no action on executive compensation, however, will not resolve any budget issues. Such an approach would not fix our lack of market competitiveness or return the lost state funding to address our unfunded needs. Providing all employees with the same salary increase is not consistent with the CSU board’s goal of bringing all employees up to the market average.
We have to pay all our employees more competitively or face continued recruitment difficulties that threaten the quality and value of our institutions. CSU trustees are committed to this goal in a way that is transparent and accountable to all of the university’s stakeholders.
Roberta Achtenberg is on the CSU board of trustees.