Gov. Gray Davis has just released his California State University budget proposal for the 2002-03 year, and if you are a CSU faculty member, start worrying.

Overall, Davis? budget is not stingy. It calls for $116.9 million additional state dollars into the CSU?an increase of 4.5 percent overall. This should be enough to keep pace with the cost of educating the 12,000 new students expected to enter the system next year. We commend Davis for committing a large budget increase to the CSU, in spite of a shaky state economy and potential deficit. However, the CSU?s already underpaid faculty will only see a 1 percent salary increase.

For a budget increase designed to compensate for the enrollment boom, keeping salaries low will do little to attract the new faculty the CSU needs. Also, the state?s failure to address faculty concerns comes at a time when faculty have become increasingly vocal over issues such as low salaries, merit based pay and workload. Increasingly bellicose, if empty, threats to strike by the California Faculty Association, the union representing CSU faculty, underscore a troubled relationship between the CSU administration and its faculty that this proposed budget will do little to remedy.

The sizable increase overall in the CSU budget is the right move by Davis in the face of increasing budget pressure. We hope the State Legislature is willing to make the same commitment when Davis? budget is up for ratification. However, a sizable increase in the budget will be in vain if the CSU is unable to attract top notch faculty. If state and CSU cannot give faculty their due increase in the short term, they should remain committed to significant raises over the long term. In the mean time, there are a variety of options that the CSU could take to retain and attract faculty. Ending merit based pay increases can make faculty salary more equitable, and eliminate the competitive and unfriendly environment that merit pay has brought. Also, lightening faculty workload would go a long way in addressing faculty concerns.