Junior faculty pay differential was a hot topic when the Faculty Senate, along with faculty members demanding an immediate resolution, met with President Alexander Gonzalez on Thursday.

Controversy surrounding junior faculty pay came to the forefront as newly hired faculty began earning more than their previously-hired counterparts, said David Wagner, vice president of human resources.

In a memorandum released last month, Gonzalez made clear that he cannot remedy the junior faculty salary differences outside of equity or market adjustments.

A number of junior faculty, including assistant government professor Christopher Witko, refuted the viability of the memorandum.

“Clearly you can tell I’m a little bit fired up about this,” said Witko, referring to Gonzalez’s memorandum. “Your plan is misleading, inadequate and insulting.”

The market adjustments mean that junior faculty will have to present a case on why their salaries need to be adjusted, said Ted Wendt, associate vice president of faculty affairs at Stanislaus State.

The adjustments often call for an offer letter from a different institution, prompting Sac State to match the salary. He said equity adjustments require that faculty compare their accomplishments to their co-workers’ and request a salary increase.

Other professors, such as assistant criminal justice professor Marlyn Jones, said the pay disparity is unfair because more experienced faculty should earn a higher salary than recent graduates ?” some who have lower degrees.

Jason Gieger, assistant English professor, said the current pay differences pit faculty against faculty.

Lila Jacobs, professor of education administration, said other schools such as Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge and Stanislaus gave blanket raises to affected faculty.

However, Wendt said the Stanislaus president didn’t have the power to handle the pay issue himself.

“Though our president, Hamid Shirvani, saw the low salaries and wanted to help, he was reminded by the CSU chancellor that he cannot,” Wendt said. “It doesn’t work like a private university.”

Stanislaus used the equity and market adjustment system to amend some of its junior faculty’s lowest salaries. “We focused more on the poorest paid faculty,” Wendt said.

Wendt said Stanislaus was able to provide the appropriate salary to each faculty member who applied for adjustments. Stanislaus has received 102 petitions since October 2005 and has responded to about half of those petitions, Wendt said.

However, Stanislaus has been able to make the adjustments because of an increase in student enrollment ?” something Sac State has not experienced, Wendt said.

“Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations of what we can do,” Wendt said.

Gonzalez said he doesn’t have the authority to pursue the pay increases at Sac State.

“I have been told by the chancellor that I am prohibited from making a change,” Gonzalez said. “I can’t do it.”

At Sac State, once faculty petition for a pay adjustment they are simply denied or approved; no other explanation is given, Gonzalez said.

The process at Stanislaus does not allow for this, Wendt said.

Although the school is backlogged at the moment, evaluators write letters to faculty to clue them in on why they were given the pay raise or why they were denied.

Paula Selleck, Public Affairs director at Fullerton, said the school is relying on the CSU systemwide effort to remedy the pay difference by using student fees to pay faculty more.

Junior faculty members will hold a meeting at 4:30 p.m. today in Mariposa Hall where Gonzalez and the faculty association will continue to discuss the pay issue.

Binde Rai can be reached at [email protected]