By Kyle Richardson |Staff Writer|
It is finally a done deal.
But is it a good one? The California Faculty Association (CFA) and California State University (CSU) officials have reached a “tentative agreement.”
The agreement came as a result after CFA members threatened to strike across CSU campuses.
“This agreement represents a strong step forward for salary stability for the faculty and their families,” said CFA president Jennifer Eagan, according to CFA.
“We are happy about this fair agreement, and are delighted that we will be teaching and mentoring our students next week,” added Eagan.
In my opinion, the deal is a bad one for the CSU professors in the classrooms.
It is not enough. The CSU’s original offer was a 4 percent raise through 2017, according to calfac.org.
The tentative agreement is a total increase of 10.5 percent raise through 2017 dispersed throughout three different dates, starting with 5 percent on June 30, 2016, 2 percent on July 1, 2016 and the final 3.5 percent on July 1, 2017.
Those eligible for the increase are CSU faculty members, including tenured professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians, and coaches.
But is this tentative agreement enough of a raise for the people who are educating the students who are the future of this world?
“I feel like the CFA settled,” said student Evan Peckels.
“But they have to secure what is theirs, there was probably fear of their jobs security, while like other humans, they have families to feed,” added Peckels.
The faculty members who are educators should be held higher in rank as well as paid at a competitive market rate.
According to the Los Angeles Times, members of the CFA earn on average $45,000 annually before taxes and other deductions. Let us take a look into some of our own CSUSB administrators’ annual salaries.
According to The Sacramento Bee, Tomás Morales, CSUSB president, made $380,000 in 2015.
Now, let’s not get on Morales, he is the captain of the ship who has been steering CSUSB in the right direction since he has arrived.
But, let us look at his key lieutenants.
Douglas Freer, CSUSB’s Vice President-Chief Financial Officer, made $207,000 in 2015 according to The Sacramento Bee.
Cesar Portillo, Associate VP of Human Resources, made $170,000 in 2015 according to The Sacramento Bee.
I can only imagine how many rounds of golf $170,000 can buy a year.
But I do know that is a lot of student tuition. These are just two of the many administrators at CSUSB who make more than $45,000 annually.
Yet, these are not the people who are in the classroom educating the future.
There are many professors who must teach at multiple campuses, teaching multiple subjects, to try and barely reach the average annual income. How is that fair to these professors when the administrators are sitting pretty in their offices?
With all the tuition money that students pay to attend a university, we should not have to question why educators are being held out of secure jobs, and thousands of dollars.
These professors, who are educating the future of the nation who will contribute to society and private sectors, deserve to be paid more.
“I strongly believe that quality education is of vital importance to your generation. You guys are the future,” said Communication Studies Professor Donald Girard.
“Educators that provide a high quality of teaching necessary to a student’s future success should be paid at a high competitive market rate,” added Girard.
I myself, wish to be an educator and I question what my future may hold. I would owe everything I have learned to those who have educated me, as I can only hope that my future students would do the same.
But think about it; whether you look to pursue a future in athletics, photography, arts, marketing or cyber security, you must consider the economic reality of the professors who are educating you today.
They are prepping us for the future.They deserve more than they have been offered.
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