Ask most members of the Sacramento State faculty what they think of the merit award system at Sac State and words like demoralizing, demeaning and unfair will usually come up in the answer.

In a survey taken by the Office of Institutional Studies in 1999, 17 percent of the staff agreed that there are clear standards for merit increases and only 6 percent agreed that they are applied fairly within Sac State.

“Since the FMI criteria is interpreted differently by the administration than how it is actually written, it makes it extremely difficult to understand what exactly we must do to receive monetary merit,” said Jeff Lustig, a government professor and a member of the California Faculty Association.

In the collective bargaining agreement, article 31.7 explains the Faculty Merit Program. Briefly, it says that faculty is eligible for merit based on quality of teaching, scholarship, service to the university and community, or all of the above.

“Even though it is clear that any one of these would make you eligible, our president seems to think you need to have accomplished all of them in the past year,” Lustig said.

Lustig added that this system encourages animosity between administration and faculty, and switches all power to the administration, leaving faculty feeling like children asking for something they don?t deserve.

There is also the matter of the seemingly-endless paperwork involved taking so much time and effort from an already very busy staff. CFA questions how the president has time to read all of these forms to make an informed final decision on an individual?s compensation. Lustig says he is so insulted by the whole process that he won?t even fill out the forms anymore.

“I just sign my name at the top and at the bottom and leave the rest blank,” Lustig said. One case in particular is John Syer, a government professor, who was selected for an Outstanding Teacher Award in 1998. He also published a book and, by all accounts from his students and peers, was an excellent teacher.

His merit award, even after meeting all criteria, was reduced to zero. He went to the FAC appeals panel and was finally given a raise.

“Many are denied raises without being given any reason and are left feeling as if all their hard work and dedication has been reduced to some forms evaluated by people never in their classrooms and a negative decision made without ever knowing why,” said Jim Chopyak, a professor in the Music Department and a member of CFA.

“The system is so broken it can?t be fixed. It should be thrown out entirely so we can start over again,” Chopyak said.

At a recent CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach on Sept. 20, 100 faculty members showed up to voice their opinions on the unfairness and inadequacies on the FMI program.

Michael Clarke, CFA representation chair, complained about the bureaucratic nightmare that has resulted from failure to adhere to contract language in the implementation of the program. Also Joe Whitlatch, the CFA bargaining chair, told of the estimates from one campus payroll office that each award required 1 hour and 15 minutes to process just in the payroll office.

Lustig said the CSUS accounting office was completely overburdened by FMI and said they told him they were required to work overtime for weeks and were resentful for missing time with their families for this task.

Also the CPEC gap which estimates that there is a 9 percent gap between Sac State and other comparable institutions, Lustig said.

“The gap is one of the president?s priorities,” said David Wagner, dean of Faculty Staff and Affairs.

Wagner also sent a letter dated Aug.15 to all faculty which stated revisions to FMI such as clear criteria and process of what needs to be on the Faculty Activity Reports before they are due, and if deans or the president reduce merit recommendations given by departments there must be a reason in writing for this.

“We don?t sit around and try to find ways of making faculty lives miserable. On the contrary, we want them to be satisfied. But you can?t make everyone happy all the time,” Wagner said.

“The whole FMI system was redeveloped two years ago and has only been in existence at CSUS for six years. We haven?t really had time to work all the problems out yet but we are working on it,” Wagner said.

Faculty Activity Reports were due in the dean?s office by Sept. 29.