California State University presidents and other executives will receive an across-the-board 2 percent pay increase, a raise faculty union leaders brandished as part of a trend of "misplaced priorities."
CSU trustees approved the pay hike at their meeting Tuesday in Long Beach. The salary increase will cover chancellors, presidents and vice chancellors serving 460,000 students enrolled in 23 campuses across the state.
According to the university system, CSU executive pay lags about 25 percent behind when compared to other markets. Executives received no pay increase during four of the last five years.
"These increases are at or below what has been provided to other employee groups," the university and faculty personnel committee wrote in its presentation to the board.
The raise will make San Diego State University president Elliot Hirshman CSU's highest paid campus president — his annual base pay will rise to $420,240. Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes' annual salary will increase to $284,259, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. CSU system Chancellor Timothy White's pay will increase to $430,746.
Several speakers at the meeting spoke against the executive pay raise, saying faculty salaries have languished and the CSU board's priorities are misplaced. Jennifer Egan, a professor at CSU East Bay and president of the California Faculty Association, urged the board of trustees to focus on teachers and student services instead.
"It's about funding priorities," Egan said. "Whether the state budget goes up or down, faculty salaries remain flat."
Faculty salaries are currently being negotiated. CSU has proposed a 2 percent raise, which union leaders Tuesday said is negligible when compared to a 2 percent increase for executives.
The average CSU faculty salary has increased 8 percent since 2004, rising from $46,362 to $50,179 in 2014, while the average pay for a campus president has risen 44 percent, from $218,871 in 2004 to $314,357 in 2014, according to the union.
