After a video was released by California State University Chancellor Jolene Koester regarding a salary raise for faculty, California Faculty Association members quickly voiced their opinions.
The California State University (CSU) is made up of 23 campuses across California, according to its site.
According to its bio, the California Faculty Association (CFA) is a union of 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches working to transform higher education into a more inclusive environment.
Koester, who has been the CSU interim chancellor for the past 16 months, posted a video addressing faculty and staff requests from the CFA on Aug. 26.
The CFA demanded a 12% salary increase, according to the CFA Sunshine Letter to Commerce Re-opener Bargaining.
In her message, Koester said if each of the 23 universities within the CSU system stretch their budget further, each school will be forced to make difficult and painful decisions.
“They’re going to have to reallocate their already limited financial resources to meet their increased costs of operation,” Koester said.
She also said that the CSU is committed to fairly compensating the faculty and staff.
“The CSU has brought that commitment to the bargaining table,” Koester said. “We have made offers of significant multi-year compensation increases to both faculty and staff bargaining units, and we’ve done this at a time when the state is facing a revenue shortfall.”
Between 2020 and 2021, the CSU budget was $7.8 billion. According to CSU, the budget has increased to 8.1 billion between 2022 and 2023.
Christopher J. Cox, a sociology lecturer, said that Koester’s words did not at all reflect the reality of the CSU’s treatment toward faculty and staff.
“You can say words like ‘We respect you’ and ‘We’re thankful for you,’ but if it’s not reflected in your behavior, that’s a problem,” Cox said. “You’re going to say all those pretty words, which are not going to take any action that moves [us] closer to getting what we need.”
Even after numerous bargaining meetings with the CSU management team, the CFA was banned from economic negotiation leaving both associations at an impasse, according to the CFA website. The bargaining was suspended in order to move to the statutory process, according to the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA).
Between 2022 and 2023, the CSU has accumulated an $8.5 billion reserve. The reserve was a result of the CSU Consolidated Investment Pool and cash in the state treasury, according to CSU Opengov.
“Millions of dollars were given to the CSU, and we still don’t know where that money was spent,” said Ray Buyco, Chapter President of the CFA and senior history lecturer.
Cox said Koester’s video was contradictory in response to CFA demands.
“The video framed things as if it is a struggle, and that they’re working really hard to try and scramble and find every dollar they can,” Cox said. “I think if that were true, they would find a whole lot more dollars than they are talking about.”
Buyco said the most insulting part of Koester’s video was her lack of respect.
“Many of us work for under $80,000 a year, and many of us work for under $60,000 a year,” he said. “This forces them to get second jobs, third jobs, and in some cases, forces faculty to live out of their cars. That’s not much respect.”
Ellen Tara James-Penny, a writing instructor, was forced to sleep in her Volvo sedan near SJSU, according to a 2017 article by neaToday. Her salary was $28,700, despite her teaching four college courses and obtaining a master’s degree.
The salary for junior administrators working in 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 Transparent California.
As Chancellor Koester receives a regular pay of $362,196, an additional payment of $75,082 for ‘other pay,’ and benefits payments of $117,453.49. Her total pay, including benefits, is $554,732, according to Transparent California.
Cox said within the last year, the CSU has argued the salary increases for campus presidents that are absolutely vital.
“To me, that’s a big contradiction that they need it to live, but that faculty and staff who are severely underpaid don’t,” he said.
Cox also said the CSU is making it seem as though faculty and staff are being unreasonable with their demands.
“The reality is we are not anywhere near as unreasonable as they think we are trying to keep up with inflation,” Cox said. “Many faculty throughout the CSU barely make it month to month to be able to afford our living. It is very difficult when you teach in a place that you cannot afford to live, let alone to live decently.”
According to The California Association of Realtors, the median home pricing for the Bay Area was $1,255,000.
Sabrina Pinnell, CFA chapter secretary and senior political science lecturer, said it is upsetting the CSU system is rejecting a cost-of-living adjustment for faculty.
“This whole message of coming together and then being ready to sacrifice, I’ve heard it before, and I’m tired of it,” Pinnell said.
