The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees held a meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Long Beach, Calif. to discuss the California Faculty Association’s (CFA) authorization to strike and Title IX services.
CSU vs. Labor Unions
Across all 23 California State University campuses, CFA members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike — if necessary — to secure a deal to address different systemic issues, including low pay, large class sizes and a lack of access to mental health counseling for students, according to its website.
The CFA members also rallied with Teamsters members to demand a fair contract at the meeting since the end of the statutory process is coming near, according to the CFA website.
Teamsters Local 2010 represents more than 1,100 skilled trades workers, including electricians, elevator mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, locksmiths, facilities workers and other trades workers in the CSU system, according to its website.
The Teamsters are also calling to have a one-day unfair labor practice strike on Nov. 14 with its members, according to the same site.
Jason Rabinowitz, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 2010, said members of the union are 23% behind other comparable employees who work for the University of California (UC) regarding a step increase in pay.
“The proposals that the CSU have on the table continue to be insulting and inadequate,” Rabinowitz said. “You’re proposing takeaways to emergency pay which is particularly insulting to our members who are there on the front lines through pandemics, hurricanes, earthquakes —our members are there.”
After five months of negotiations, including recent efforts by a neutral state-appointed mediator and a fact-finding panel, the CSU and the CFA have yet to reach agreement on compensation and other issues, according to a website from the CSU.
Amy Parker, a representative and board officer for Cal State Fullerton, said she was at the meeting to express her utter disgust towards the Board of Trustees for what they are doing to the CSU.
“You could write your wrongs, stop suppressing our speech and protect the people’s university, but this retirement home for film executives has chosen to swell the multi-billion dollar reserves of the CSU and enrich their administrative cronies instead of providing for our student faculty and staff,” Parker said.
Between 2022 and 2023, the CSU has gathered an $8.5 billion reserve, according to another website.
The CSU has also proposed an $8.7 billion operating budget for 2024-2025, with $5.4 billion from the state General Fund and $3.3 billion from tuition and fee revenue, according to the 2024-25 CSU operating budget plan.
Matthew Armis, assistant director at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and chief steward for Unit 5 in Academic Professionals of California, said she raved about the CSU in the new chancellor’s message a few weeks ago, saying it is one-of-a-kind.
“I have to agree,” Armis said. “The CSU, the nation’s largest university system, is one-of-a-kind when it comes to its refusal to adequately pay its faculty and staff, and bargain in good faith.”
The salary for junior administrators working for the CSU system is an average of $100,000. For senior managers it is an average of $200,000 and for presidents, $300,000-$500,000, according to a website by Transparent California.
The newly appointed CSU Chancellor Mildred García will earn $795,000 in base salary, deferred compensation of $80,000 yearly, a monthly auto allowance of $1,000 and a monthly housing stipend of $8,000, according to a July 12 article from Cal Matters.
Matt Mason, steward and automotive mechanic at Sacramento State, said the CSU has walked away from the bargaining table again while there is still work to be done for a fair contract.
“They have failed to negotiate and make impossible cuts, taking away our rights and our work despite our sacrifices and contributions to the CSU including working through a pandemic,” Mason said. “We’ve received no salary structure steps for nearly 30 years.”
Title IX
The Board of Trustees also dedicated time to talk about updates on civil rights programs and services, including Title IX and others concerned with nondiscrimination.
The California State Auditor and the Cozen O’Connor law firm each released reports in July assessing the CSU system’s nondiscrimination programs and it’s procedures on complaints of sexual harassment.
Over 150 changes to the way universities in the CSU system operate concerning Title IX and nondiscrimination were recommended in Cozen O’Connor’s report in light of its findings.
Leora D. Freedman, CSU vice chancellor for human resources, spoke thoroughly about the work that’s been done to meet these recommendations so far and what steps it is taking next.
Freedman said groups of students, staff and faculty will come together to form implementation teams at each CSU campus.
She said each team is putting together a project plan for meeting the recommendations and will present their plan in December.
Freedman said these implementation teams have been struggling with budget constraints and a lack of exposure on CSU campuses.
Another improvement to CSU’s civil rights programs and services that was included in the presentation is the creation of a dedicated Civil Rights Division in the chancellor’s office.
Freedman said the new division will include people who are qualified to work with Title IX and nondiscrimination work, and are specialized in prevention programs, data analytics, investigations and resolutions.
She said under the new rules, any report containing sexual violence allegations or complaints having to do with the campuses’ president, vice president athletics director or police chief must be shared with the Chancellor’s Office.
After Freedman’s presentation, the floor was opened for comments and questions, and a number of attendees shared their thoughts on the new plans.
Student Trustee Diana Aguilar-Cruz said work needs to be done with certain people in mind, especially those who have had negative experiences when bringing forward their concerns around assault, harassment and discrimination.
“We need to also think and consider how we are going to be helping them in overcoming whatever difficult situation they had to be put through,” she said. “How do we bring back the trust of those who stopped trusting in our system?”
Annual Systemwide Report on Hate Incidents on Campus
In another portion of the meeting, Trustee Julia I. Lopez introduced the topic of hate incidents on campus and said it's important to create space for discourse on the topic.
“We live in a time right now where there’s a lot of hate and prejudice and intolerance and so we wanted to go beyond just a report and the statistics,” she said. “Really talk about what we do on our campuses and as a system to address this issue.”
Melinda Latas, a director for Systemwide Clery and Campus Safety Compliance, presented the Annual Systemwide Report on Hate Incidents on Campus, which included results from data gathered in 2022.
Latas said there were a total of 13 hate crimes and six incidents of hate violence on CSU campuses in 2022.
She said physical assault was the most common type of incident reported and bias based on sexual orientation was the most common of its kind, according to her report.
Cynthia Teniente-Matson, president of San José State, said a lot of effort is being put in at SJSU to combat and prevent these incidents.
Teniente-Matson said the campus has been “responsive to all reports of fearfulness and safety,” and has made efforts to share resources and express care to the SJSU community.
She said among others, the campus’ efforts have included keeping an eye out for online threats or hate speech.
Teniente-Matson said the administration is reminding people to be open and civil, and to do their part to maintain the university as a safe place.
Trustee Jack McGrory said there needs to be another way for students to report incidents that should still be looked into even though they may not technically meet the federal definition of a hate crime.
“There’s four hate crimes, and 510,000 students and 55,000 employees? I’m not buying it,” McGrory said. “There's gotta be something more going on on the campuses. If we had some lower tier of reporting on incidents that are like this — that don’t get to the threshold of the federal definition — I think that would be helpful for us.”
