The California State University Board of Trustees unanimously approved a 2 percent pay increase for CSU university presidents and executives on Tuesday.
All 23 university presidents and the CSU chancellor, executive vice chancellors and vice chancellors will be receiving the pay increase effective July 1.
“Recruiting and retaining high-quality leadership, faculty and staff for the CSU is important in both the short and long-term health of our enterprise and is critical to the overall success of our students and our system,” CSU Chancellor Timothy White said during Tuesday’s board meeting.
A two percent increase on salaries was previously approved for all CSU employees in the latest budget for the CSU.
The salary for White will increase from $422,300 to $430,746 annually, an increase of $8,446, according to the CSU. CSULB President Jane Close Conoley’s salary will increase by $6,599 to a total of $336,538 annually.
Though a two percent across-the-board salary increase has been marked into the budget for the next year, White acknowledged that negotiations are still ongoing with the California Faculty Association and some staff unions.
The CFA has criticized the CSU for a disparity between the rise of executive pay versus the rise of faculty pay. According to the CFA, pay of university presidents on average had risen 44 percent from 2004 to 2014, while the average faculty salary has increased 8 percent.
“CSU Presidents don’t teach classes, and they’re not in direct contact with students,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said in a release. “That’s a consistent problem. The CSU is running on a model that fails to prioritize our mission to teach students above all else.”
The CSU budget agreement was reached over a month ago and included an additional $96 million in state funding over the initial proposal released in January.
“I want to raise a concern that one of the first actions that we are taking right after receiving approval for our budget is salary increases for executives,” said Silas Abrego, member of the CSU Board of Trustees.
Though the pay increase will be paid for through state funds, the two percent raise factors in the base salary (paid for by state funds) and any supplemental pay received through Foundation sources.
In addition to the executive pay increase, White recommended that the Board of Trustees re-evaluate the presidential compensation policy adopted in May 2012, which the CSU contends lags behind the current market.
“The report in support of executive salary increases should be titled ‘Pity the poor presidents,’” said Lillian Taiz, member of the CFA Board of Directors, at Tuesday’s board meeting. “When it comes to salary increases, say the report, they are the ‘last in line,’ and undercompensated, because they did not get the $80 increase full-time faculty received in 2013-14.”
According to White, the executive salary increase represents $191,694 of the $65 million earmarked for increases in compensation for all CSU employees under the new budget.