The California Faculty Association joined other unions and student groups Feb. 1 to send a message to the CSU Board of Trustees that lagging faculty wages are resulting in a damaging drain of the best and the brightest professors from the system.

About 250 demonstrators made their way to Long Beach ?” home of the trustees’ and chancellor’s offices ?” to make their case.

Christopher Witko, Sac State associate professor in the Government Department, was one of eight speakers to address the trustees about mounting concerns of underpaid and overworked faculty.

Although the trustees gave CSU faculty members a 3.5 percent pay increase in Oct. 2005, Witko cited a California Postsecondary Education Commission report that revealed a 16.8 percent pay lag ?” the largest gap since the inflationary 1970s and 1980s ?” between CSU professors and those in like institutions.

The commission’s calculations are based on an assessment of 20 state universities across the nation, according to the 2005 commission report. Out of the group, professors and assistant professor salaries dropped to 20th and 19th places respectively, with 21st place representing the worst paid. Associate professor salaries were at 14th place and instructors ranked ninth. Witko said he spoke to trustees about two issues that especially concerned him: the lag in overall faculty pay, and the fact that new faculty members often make more than their more experienced counterparts.

“At minimum, there should be a commitment to the principle that the more people are here, the more they get paid,” Witko said.

Witko calls the difference in pay “the experience penalty,” and sees it as a detriment to the future of the CSU because frustrated faculty are forced to go elsewhere in search for better pay ?” which happens to be outside of the CSU system.

“One thing that’s already happening is that junior faculty members are leaving, and that will certainly continue to accelerate if nothing is done,” Witko said.

Sac State CFA Chapter President Cecil Canton ?” the other Sac State faculty present at the demonstration ?” said the disparity in faculty pay is between disciplines. About 15 years ago, the CSU transitioned from a salary scale system to one driven by recruitment, Canton said. As a result, business and economics professors start at higher salaries than professors in other disciplines, such as social science, because they have a lower market value, he said.

High California housing costs compound the problem of low faculty pay, Canton said.

“The main thing is that it is getting harder and harder for young faculty to survive in California,” Canton said. And although affordable housing will help supplement the low incomes, state housing constricts appreciation, Canton said.

Canton said the union is in the midst of renegotiating their contract with the CSU and will fight for faculty and student rights at the bargaining table.

“We are out front and fighting on their behalf,” Canton said.

Current California budget constraints account for the small faculty raises for the 2005-06 school year, according to the commission’s report.

The commission recognized the problem of faculty recruitment and retainment that faces the CSU, and urges the system to offer competitive packages, or the low pay will result in “highly prized scholars looking elsewhere,” which could also affect student access to quality education, according to the commission’s report.

In 2004, the average faculty salary at Sac State was $57,698, and the average pay of tenured track faculty CSUwide was $95,505, according to the CSU 2004 report on faculty recruitment. At Sac State, tenured track faculty appointments decreased by 58 appointments from 2003 to 2004, landing at a five-year low.

Jessica Weidling can be reached at [email protected]