CSU, UC leaders consider financial issues this week
Michelle Locke, Associated Press Writer
Issue date: 9/18/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
BERKELEY - Higher education leaders tackle financial issues this week with California State University trustees considering paying top brass more while University of California officials look at raising professional school fees.
At Cal State, the nation's largest four-year system with more than 400,000 students, trustees meeting today and Wednesday in Long Beach are set to vote on raising executive pay by nearly 12 percent, a proposal that has been widely criticized.
Administrators say the raise is necessary to help close a 46 percent pay gap between CSU executives and their counterparts elsewhere in the nation.
"We compete for university presidents and senior executives of the university system in a national marketplace," said Board of Trustees Chairwoman Roberta Achtenberg. "Our executives are much sought after. Their level of excellence is widely acknowledged and we need to compensate them appropriately, at least in a way that's competitive with our comparison institutions."
But opponents say the raises are a bad idea at a time when student fees have been steadily increasing.
"It's jumping out at us as another example of what are really chronically misplaced priorities," said Lillian Taiz, president of the California Faculty Association.
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who sits on the boards of both CSU and UC because of his office, wrote in a letter to Achtenberg and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed that the pay raises are "ill-timed and unwise" and "will most assuredly arouse the ire of students, faculty and the Legislature."
Executive pay has been a thorny issue in public higher education, with the 10-campus University of California taking heavy criticism last year for quietly paying top officials millions in undisclosed perks.
On the agenda for that system's governing board of regents, meeting at UC Davis Tuesday through Thursday, is a change in professional school fees that could have students at flagship campuses paying more than students elsewhere in the system.
At Cal State, the nation's largest four-year system with more than 400,000 students, trustees meeting today and Wednesday in Long Beach are set to vote on raising executive pay by nearly 12 percent, a proposal that has been widely criticized.
Administrators say the raise is necessary to help close a 46 percent pay gap between CSU executives and their counterparts elsewhere in the nation.
"We compete for university presidents and senior executives of the university system in a national marketplace," said Board of Trustees Chairwoman Roberta Achtenberg. "Our executives are much sought after. Their level of excellence is widely acknowledged and we need to compensate them appropriately, at least in a way that's competitive with our comparison institutions."
But opponents say the raises are a bad idea at a time when student fees have been steadily increasing.
"It's jumping out at us as another example of what are really chronically misplaced priorities," said Lillian Taiz, president of the California Faculty Association.
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who sits on the boards of both CSU and UC because of his office, wrote in a letter to Achtenberg and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed that the pay raises are "ill-timed and unwise" and "will most assuredly arouse the ire of students, faculty and the Legislature."
Executive pay has been a thorny issue in public higher education, with the 10-campus University of California taking heavy criticism last year for quietly paying top officials millions in undisclosed perks.
On the agenda for that system's governing board of regents, meeting at UC Davis Tuesday through Thursday, is a change in professional school fees that could have students at flagship campuses paying more than students elsewhere in the system.
Be the first to comment on this story