CSU campuses have cut classes, laid off temporary teachers and turned away 10,000 students. At the same time, the system has become top-heavy with administrators — some of them making huge salaries — and has spent more than half a billion dollars on a computer system that may not work.
Between 1993 and 2002, the number of managers climbed 41.4 percent while tenure-track faculty grew by only 2.8 percent, according to the California Faculty Association (CFA). The budget for instruction dropped from 53 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2001.
Despite budget cuts, several managers are extremely well paid. Marvalene Hughes will be paid $338,412 plus benefits as interim president of CSU-Stanislaus this year, which makes her the highest-paid official in the CSU system despite the fact that she runs one of the smallest campuses (about 6,600 full-time students). That's because Hughes is drawing her annual salary of $204,252 as well as $11,180 a month in retirement benefits. In addition to her salary and pension, she receives a $23,000 a year housing allowance and a car allowance.
"It's very disappointing to me," says John Sarraille, president of the Stanislaus chapter of CFA. "Twelve sections or classes have been cut back. The library funding has been reduced drastically. All department representatives are trying to figure out which journals and books not to buy this year."
Administrators at UC campuses have also received hefty raises in the face of cutbacks. UC-San Diego Chancellor Marye Ann Fox earns $350,000 — some $70,000 more than the chancellor she replaced this year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
In other examples of what CFA considers misplaced priorities, new buildings are sprouting up at many CSU campuses, but most do not contain classrooms. Much of the new construction is believed to be related to the increase in administrators. CFA members lament the lack of classroom space, which is expected to become even scarcer as enrollment increases.
CFA also has objected to the PeopleSoft Common Management System computer project that was supposed to improve management of the CSU system. It ended up costing more than $600 million, and a state audit requested by CFA found that it's badly planned and may not even work. CFA has called on CSU to defer any more spending on the computer project.
"Our goal is to make sure that no funds earmarked for preserving instruction get diverted to CMS," says CFA President John Travis. "The union is also looking to verify that campus loans are going to the core academic mission rather than to CMS."