Sacramento State junior faculty members voiced their concerns that Destination 2010 ?” an initiative to turn Sac State into a destination campus of the West ?” is too focused on athletic facilities, while the quality of education is suffering at the second annual Green and Gold Gala.

Outside of the event venue, junior faculty members handed out fliers to arriving guests, many of who were financial contributors to Sac State. –

By reaching out to some of the campus’ investors, junior faculty said they felt their opinions could be better represented, said Liam Murphy, an assistant professor of anthropology.

“Administration does not respond to the equity of junior faculty,” Murphy said. “Administration feels pressure only from members of the community who finance many campus projects.”

The fliers stated that junior faculty is paid 20 percent less than newly hired faculty and that funds are being used to construct new non-academic facilities rather than being used to renovate current classrooms and construct additional classrooms.

Junior faculty said the overall quality of education will suffer because of this.

Destination 2010’s focus has been on athletic excellence rather than academics, said Kevin Wehr, an assistant professor of sociology. -Without emphasis on academic facilities and junior faculty pay, the attending members felt the result will be lower student enrollment and higher faculty vacancies.

“This is a university. Education should be our number one priority,” Wehr said.

However, a number of donations allocated for education purposes have been made.

At the gala, President Alexander Gonzalez announced a $3 million donation given by an anonymous donor to go toward undergraduate scholarships and $1 million granted by the Bernard Osher Foundation to provide 20 scholarships for re-entry students.

The university hopes to implement these funds by next semester, Gonzalez said.

“These are the gifts of education, the gifts that provide our students the opportunity to change their lives,” Gonzalez said.

Other contributions include $400,000 from Paul and Renee Snider for a new on-campus museum of natural history, a $150,000 gift to be given over three years from the RCA Community Fund of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to establish a new scholar in ethics.

Matthew Beltran can be reached at [email protected]