Nearly six months after applying for pay increases, close to 200 junior faculty members are still waiting for a response.

Sacramento State administration presented the applications, which were sent in at the request of the university, as a solution to the junior faculty pay discrepancy problem.

Last semester, junior faculty held a number of meetings focused on fixing the salary differences between older junior faculty members and newly hired junior faculty members.

Currently, junior faculty members who do not have tenure but were hired more than three years ago have an average salary of $55,352. This figure is close to $7,000 less than newly hired junior faculty members who come into the California State University system with an average salary rate of $61,595.

Administrators argue that the pay disparity is based on various factors.

Associate Vice President of Public Affairs Frank Whitlatch said the pay difference is a result of the economy and the difficulty of recruiting new instructors.

“With housing and other costs going up, it has become more difficult to recruit new people. This is why salaries for new faculty members have to go up,” Whitlatch said.

Vice President of Human Resources David Wagner added that the university having to work under an “inadequate state budget” for the past three years is another factor in this issue.

Wagner said there wasn’t any money, so there weren’t any salary increases. He added that faculty pay at Sac State would be behind even if the new members weren’t making more.

The pay disparity is known among junior faculty members as the experience penalty, government professor Kimberly Nalder said.

“The experience penalty results from the fact that brand-new professors are now being paid significantly more than those who have been teaching here for three to five years,” Nalder said. “The process outlined in our contracts for requesting a basic equity raise, for the sake of fairness, has been followed by many faculty members.”

Nalder said many junior faculty members have been waiting five months or more for a response. She said she hopes the administration will do the right thing and show junior faculty respect by granting the basic equity increases.

The pay increases, also known as equity increases, would allow the more established junior faculty members to make the same amount as recently hired junior faculty, with the possibility of additional compensation for previous years of service.

The fact that a decision has not been made and that no one has been contacted has worried David Zuckerman, an assistant professor of communication studies.

“It’s definitely been a rough process so far,” said Zuckerman, who sent his application for an increase in May. “I still haven’t heard anything.”

Zuckerman added that since his hiring at Sac State, he has only seen temporary solutions to the pay disparity.

“What makes it even more difficult is that other than a 3 percent general salary increase, I haven’t had a raise since I got here in 2003,” Zuckerman said. “President Gonzalez, a committee of other junior faculty members and the faculty senate were able to get many of us a one-time bonus, which helped, but was only a temporary solution.”

Zuckerman said this affects junior faculty members and all faculty members in a huge way for prices of basic necessities are increasing.

“All of my expenses have gone up – Everything from cable and gas prices to my rent, but my salary hasn’t,” Zuckerman said. “Under the terms of our former contract, (our salary) would have increased 8 percent by now; that missing percent hurts.”

Zuckerman said the increase is important, for the simple idea of fairness.

“I have three years more experience than those in my department that were hired recently, yet they are making more than me,” Zuckerman said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Wagner is confident that all junior faculty members who applied for the increase will be notified of their results as soon as a decision is made.

The application review process is very thorough, Wagner said.

Wagner said the department committee, the department chair and the dean have reviewed the applications. He said Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Joe Sheley is now reviewing the applications now and will make the final decision.

The process of the applications has been delayed because of uncertainty over the university’s budget and enrollment figures, Wagner said.

Some feel that the lengthy notification process, combined with the halt in bargaining of faculty pay, is having a negative effect on the number of quality instructors at Sac State.

“This university is losing quality junior faculty and discouraging those who remain by not paying us fairly,” Nalder said. “This hurts students because quality instructors leave and, in many cases, we don’t get the budget to replace them. (Students) end up losing available classes and getting a lower quality of instruction.”

Wagner said he hopes that both the chancellor’s office and the California Faculty Association will, as they negotiate the next contract, craft something that will help solve the salary inversion problem.