Over the last decade, the California State University administration has become one of haves and have-nots, where top and even mid-level managers are paid six-figure salaries while faculty and staff salaries are stagnating. The Board and CSU managers, like many corporations, have prioritized those at the top of the organizational hierarchy over faculty and students.

Between 2007-2013, the number of high-level administrators, all making six figure salaries, grew by 19.2% while the number of full-time faculty was cut by 3%. This new CSU “1%”of administrators and managers have seen salary increases of 24%, and the average campus president’s salary has risen by a whopping 36%.

Meanwhile, students, faculty and support staff are struggling to get by.

Student fees and debt have skyrocketed. Since 1991, tuition and fees have more than tripled at CSU schools. The average student loan debt among CSU students is $18,460. And many campuses have enacted local so-called “student success” fees, which are really just a back-door way to increase tuition.

What’s clear is that these increases in fees and tuition are not being used to hire fulltime faculty or improve the quality of the education or instruction students receive.

Over the past 10 years while the CSU 1% got fatter, CSU faculty wages have stagnated, making them the lowest paid higher ed educators in the state! Wrote one faculty member:

My husband and I live in a one bedroom apartment with our young daughter.  We’re both PhDs, working extremely hard as adjunct professors but we’re paid like we work at McDonalds. We’re making so little money that we qualify for the federal Women, Infants and Children program, which is how we’ve been able to feed our child. Our situation feels hopeless.

Talented teachers and bright students make the CSU a great system – not overpaid administrators.

It’s time the CSU got its priorities straight. Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.

Please sign the petition and tell the California State University Board of Trustees to pay faculty a fair wage and prioritize a quality education for our students.