Dozens of faculty demonstrators entered the office of President Donald Gerth with a memorandum, asking him to deliver their concerns to the California State University for the salary contract negotiations.

The march is part of a statewide action organized by the California Faculty Association that took place on 22 CSU campuses last week.

The CFA and the CSU have been locked in a debate over the next salary contract, which will set the salaries and working conditions of faculty in the CSU system. Negotiations officially began on April 12. The CFA has threatened a work stoppage in the Fall 2001 semester if an agreement has not been reached.

“We asked President Gerth to take a letter to Chancellor Reed and the trustees expressing the grave concerns of the CSU faculty,” said Jeff Lustig, president of the Sacramento State CFA chapter.

The memorandum given to Gerth addresses CFA concerns that include the hiring of more tenured faculty. According to CFA numbers, the CSU has seen a net gain of 1,462 lecturers, compared with one tenured professor in that time. The memorandum also addresses a 7.9 percent lag in CSU salaries that was found in a comparison with other institutions. Other concerns included faculty workload and pay for lecturers and part-time faculty. The lecturers are underpaid, under-protected and vulnerable, Lustig said.

“I have no comment on their concerns,” Gerth said.

It is not proper to comment while negotiations are underway, he said.

Gerth said that he will not take the letter to the CSU administration in Long Beach. Instead, he is sending a personal letter to Lustig. Gerth did not disclose its contents.

“The voice of the faculty is the Faculty Senate,” Gerth said. “The voice of the union is the people there in the union.”

There is a distinction between these two entities, he said.

Gerth said he was not angered by the demonstration in his office, and is willing to hear their complaints.

Lustig estimated 100 demonstrators, consisting of faculty and some students, at the peak of the march. The March began in the Library Quad and ended in Gerth?s office in Sacramento Hall.

“The turnout shows that faculty are very concerned about this contract and what it means for the future of their teaching,” Lustig said.

The negotiations have not gone far beyond discussing the ground rules, he said. Both sides have agreed to hold negotiations at several CSU campuses.

“Nobody believes how arrogant the other side is until they sit in the same room and watch them,” Lustig said.

Recently, the CFA passed a resolution allowing for a work stoppage in the Fall 2001 semester, should the CFA choose this course of action, according to Lustig. The resolution has only been passed within the CFA and is not affiliated with the CSU itself. Talks of a work stoppage have been chalked up as typical public posturing in a time of negotiation by Sam Strafaci, chief negotiator for the CSU. The CSU has said in previous interviews that the contract in place prohibits strikes. The principle source of a job action has been allegations in The State Hornet, Gerth said.

“We hope [work stoppages] won?t be necessary,” Lustig said. “If they are [necessary], the turnout shows that there is a lot of support on this campus.”

Demonstrator Cecil Canton, chair of the Criminal Justice Department, identifies with the concerns of the union.

As a department chair, Canton said that he is having problems attracting and retaining new faculty. He attributes lower than average salaries and rising cost of living expenses as a major part of the problem.

“We are not going to be able to attract the kind of faculty that we want,” Canton said.Canton also mentioned faculty involvement in university decision-making as a key issue in negotiations.

“The administration?s responsibility is to encourage and enable learning in the institution,” Canton said.

This will ultimately hurt the students, Canton said.

“I think that most of the rest of us as faculty members are concerned about the same issues,” Canton said.

Canton said that he would join his colleagues if job action occurred.