CFA Against Executive Raises as CSU Trustees Set to Vote This Week

The CSU Board of Trustees will announce on Thursday new presidents for East Bay and Northridge, and vote on their compensation. CFA leaders will speak to both of these issues during public session on Thursday. You can view CSU board meetings here.

CFA strongly opposes any raises and exorbitant pay for executive and administrative roles during an ongoing pandemic, economic downturn, and with the backdrop of layoffs on CSU campuses. It is downright immoral for already highly paid presidents, executives, and administrators to continue to receive massive paychecks and housing stipends while the CSU confronts COVID-19-related cuts in state funding by laying off staff and reducing lecturer and coaching jobs. The CSU also needs to save student, faculty, and staff work, jobs, and healthcare coverage by dipping into its more than $1.7 billion reserve.

Last month, CFA called out the Board of Trustees for the approval of an excessive salary and compensation package approved for the incoming chancellor – a $625,000 salary and additional $107,000 in housing and car allowances per year. That decision – as well as the impending votes – are irresponsible for any business, let alone a public entity spending taxpayer and student tuition monies.

Additionally, the Alliance for Black Students at CSU East Bay, along with state lawmakers, are calling on Trustees to choose a president who has experience addressing systemic racism. East Bay’s ratio of Black students to full-time (tenure-track) faculty is about 89-to-1. The system-wide ratio is 45-to-1. Two-thirds of departments at CSU East Bay do not have any Black faculty members.

“One of the most important aspects of a safe and fair learning environment in the CSU is the ability to ensure racial equity,” said Rachael Stryker, CFA East Bay Chapter President. “The CFA East Bay chapter has been working closely with faculty, staff and students, including SQE, to ensure that our administration prioritizes bringing a new president to CSU East Bay who has a demonstrated record of successfully using anti-racism models to improve Black, people of color, and Indigenous student experiences and decrease racially-based graduation gaps. The time has long come for all CSU campus presidents to embed racial justice as part of their campus leadership.”