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Click to read CFA’s protest against the CSU Trustees

Junior faculty demanded for higher pay and lower class sizes through increased funding at a rally held in the Library Quad on Tuesday.

Sacramento State professors, faculty members and students rallied together, demanding for better representation by Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez to generate more funds for the campus.

“Gonzalez needs to stand up for staff and students,” said Jane Kerlinger, staff representative for the California Faculty Association ?” the union organized the event.

Junior faculty members say they are facing issues of overcrowded classrooms and salaries that do not cover the rising cost of housing, according to the union’s pamphlets, posters and signs.

There is also an inequality in pay, for new members are being offered more money than experienced faculty in order to lure them to teach at the university, Kerlinger said.

During the rally, protestors got signatures for petitions addressed to the campus president. The petitions demanded President Gonzalez, as his role of an adviser to California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed, to speak out to Reed and the CSU trustees in support of fair contracts for faculty ?” they called for: elimination of the salaray gap between Sac State and other comparable institutions, a solution for junior faculty salary inversions, elimination of overcrowded classrooms and a decrease of faculty workloads.

“We want (Gonzalez) to speak out for the resources to run this CSU properly and educate our students,” said Criminal Justice Professor Cecil Canton, CFA Sac State chapter president.

Students and faculty marched to Sacramento Hall as the rally came to a close. The protestors continued into the building and outside of Gonzalez’s office.

Among the students who joined the march was child development senior Jessica Mijares who thought it was important to support the faculty members.

“They’re not just doing it for themselves, but for the students as well,” Mijares said.

Matthew Beltran can be reached at [email protected]