By Alejandra Arana |Staff Writer|
CSU top executives reported false information to the public about their salary information, according to a press release sent out by the office of California Senator Leland Yee.
According to the senator’s Chief of Staff, Adam Keigwin, executives reported to the public a much lower salary than what is reflected by IRS statements, leading the public to feel betrayed.
“They should be helping us out instead of doing things for their own personal benefit,” said student Esmeralda Acosta. “If they were honest from the get-go we would really know how much debt we are in,” said student Kim Gonzalez.
Gonzalez expressed that their honesty would help those within the educational system get a better picture of how much money is missing and figure out a way students, faculty and staff can really be helped.
This event was noticed by Senator Yee’s team and others when a few websites posted that public records were recovered from the IRS and the public.
Keigman sent out the press release May 12 to inform students, faculty and staff about these events. “CSU claims their campus president in Los Angeles has a total compensation of $325,000, whereas records at the Controller’s office show a salary [of] $372,461 and IRS records show he received $515,612,” states the press release.
That is $190,612 that was not reported to the public. “It goes to show that if we thought it was bad before, it’s even worse now and it’s a testament to leaders of the CSU System,” stated Keigman.
There are doubts among students, faculty and staff as to where that extra unreported money is going. However, there are no federal rules that mandate executives to report the actual income they earn, which makes it almost impossible for the public to ever receive the correct amount.
“We spend way more time with professors, get to know them and create relationships but we never get to see the executives. Professors don’t get paid what they deserve,” said Gonzalez.
Top executives have worked their way up the ladder and are now in charge of education institutions, but they are no longer on the floor with the students, which can create an organizational barrier with the students.
“Senator Yee will continue to monitor and provide oversight on this situation with upcoming bills,” said Keigman.