CSUSM rally focuses on faculty salaries

By: DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Thursday, March 9, 2006 10:01 PM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- Shouting slogans such as "hard work should pay" and "save our staff," more than 100 students and professors at Cal State San Marcos staged a lunchtime rally Thursday in support of pay raises for faculty members.

The event was the first time in the 16-year history of the university that teachers and students had united to fight for the same cause, according to Janet Powell, president of the university's faculty union.

"We're here to send a message that we need and demand fair contracts," Powell told an audience gathered near the Kellogg Library on a gray and windy day. "Students are here with us because we are the ones who educate them."

A catalyst for the rally is that professors across the Cal State University system are working under an expired labor contract, said Powell. Professors have rejected proposed 3.5 percent raises because high-level administrators received 13.7 percent raises in November, she said.

Students cheered Powell's message that the university system should prioritize large pay raises for professors as opposed to salary hikes for high-level administrators, such as campus President Karen Haynes.

"I find it hypocritical that the people who are already in high-paying jobs are getting even higher raises," said student Tamira Jubber during an interview at the rally. "The teachers are the ones we develop relationships with, and who directly affect us. Most of us don't even know what the president looks like."

In response to a request for comment from the North County Times, Haynes said in a statement that compensating all employees competitively will help the campus achieve one of its two key priorities, establishing academic excellence. But she did not specifically offer support for faculty raises beyond the 3.5 percent bump that has been on the table since last summer.

Many students and faculty members carried posters Thursday, with messages such as "Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions" and "Raises, rights and respect."

Student posters also focused on 10 percent tuition increases set for fall 2006, 2007 and 2008.

"We'll pay more when you offer more courses" was the message on one poster, while another said that a scarcity of professors makes it harder for students to get the classes they need to graduate.

Powell said that more than 130 of the 220 full-time professors at the university signed a petition urging Haynes to lobby her bosses in Long Beach for more faculty pay. Powell delivered the petition to Provost Robert Sheath after the rally.

Similar protests are being held this week at 17 other campuses in the university system. Powell said she learned in a Wednesday night conference call that each campus has surpassed its goals for turnout so far.

Powell also said that Thursday's turnout in San Marcos was much larger than she had projected.

Marc DeGuzman, president of the university's student government, said during an interview at the rally that low faculty pay is another way that university system officials are failing the students.

"I think everyone on campus really knows that the CSU is in trouble right now, and it's the responsibility of the state to bring it back," said DeGuzman.

The rally also supported the 325 nonteaching employees at the university. Suzanne Rios, president of the nonteaching employee union, told audience members that their support will force system officials to bargain fairly.

Gerry Daley, a lawyer for the California Faculty Association labor union, riled the audience by attacking the large raises recently given to campus presidents and other administrators.

"We must stop this employer from giving such piggishly large raises to high-level administrators," said Daley.

He also explained to students that their fight against tuition hikes is intertwined with the faculty pay issue, because both are tied to the state's eroding commitment to affordable higher education.

Daley then began chanting "it's all one fight," and much of the audience quickly joined him.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 761-4410 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.

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