The California State University Board of Trustees’ decision to provide 28 of its highest-ranking officials with 11.8 percent raises continues to cause an uproar among CSU faculty members.

The board approved a pay increase for all but one of its 23 campus presidents, as well as other top executives.

The increases will ultimately cost taxpayers$840,767, according to a Sept. 19 CSU Board of Trustees agenda.

According to a California Faculty Association report, if the funds used to increase executive pay were spent on students instead, it could pay for 981 Education Opportunity Program grants for low-income and first-generation college students. It could also pay for 647 grants, which would cover the cost of textbooks for a year, or 207 additional course sections to help about 8,300 students get the classes they need, according to the report.

CFA President Lillian Taiz said, “It’s just not very smart to give raises to executives that already make more than a quarter of a million dollars?(especially) at a time when student fees have nearly doubled.”

The boards’ decision to give raises to its top executives is justified, said Clara Potes-Fellow, the CSU director of media relations.

“The compensation for presidents is earned,” Potes-Fellow said. “It’s not a gift. These presidents are hard-working people who are on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

A 2006 report taken by The Mercer Group was used to compare the base salaries of CSU executives to those at similar institutions and found that CSU executives were receiving lower salaries than that of their colleagues.

The CFA considers the report questionable and requested a copy of the entire report.

Potes-Fellow said certain information on the Mercer report is held confidential because it is “property of Mercer.” She said the CSU doesn’t have the ability to disclose Mercer report information to the public.

“What (the CSU) can share is already available to the public,” she said.

The priorities of the CSU administration are not where they claim to be, said Brian Ferguson, the CFA communications specialist.

“(The CSU administration) seems to say that the students are their most important asset, as they should be, yet (CSU) doubles student fees, gives (executive officials) raises and will not give the public the Mercer report, calling (the report) a trade secret,” he said.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino said that he is “extremely disappointed that the Board of Trustees approved raises for executives at a time when student fees have doubled.”

“The data that was used to justify the raises cannot be confirmed and it is out of date,” he said. “It is absolutely absurd that a public institution refuses to provide information to the public they are serving.”

Portantino is the author of Assembly Bill 1413, which currently has the full support of Lt. Governor John Garamendi, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, CFA members and other significant educational associations, including the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association.

According to the CFA website, the bill sets clear guidelines that the CFA hopes will prevent similar incidents in the future. The bill also establishes that transition pay or payments made to retiring executives will be permitted, but only for work that is performed, with the sum of payment not exceeding the salary level at the time of separation.

When asked how the bill will affect present and future CSU students, Taiz said it will “tell Trustees you cannot operate in secret and you cannot give money to people who do not do anything for it. It will ensure that the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the assembly and the state superintendent of public instruction can always have someone at the table on their behalf. It will also protect and make sure that the interests of the students are paramount.”

Potes-Fellow argues said the bill is “a bad deal and is unnecessary. The CSU objects to having staff who are not elected to be on the board. The bill will have no effect.”

Although the bill is very well-supported by government officials, the CFA and Taiz are encouraging the public to play its part in passing AB 1413.

Alongside pushing for the passing of AB 1413, Taiz has formally challenged CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed to a debate.

Potes-Fellow said she does not think the chancellor will take Taiz up on her offer.

Along with CFA scrutiny, the CSU must now prepare for a lawsuit. Two recent graduates from CSU, San Bernardino, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday claiming that “the retroactive pay handed out recently to?executives amounts to more than $100,000 in illegal gifts of public funds,” Ferguson wrote in an e-mail.

Ferguson said the plaintiffs, Raul and Crystal Rodriguez, had previous relations to CFA and contacted the association to voice their concerns. CFA contacted Employment Lawyer Glenn Rothner of Rothner, Segall & Greenstone, then Rothner filed a lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf.

Potes-Fellow said that since CSU officials had not yet seen the suit, she could not comment.

However, she did add that she thought the lawsuit was “a stunt to attract publicity to the CFA.”

Princess Garnace can be reached at [email protected].