NEWS
HIGHLANDER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012
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Bill seeks to cap CSU, UC executive salaries and pay raises Cristina Granados CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Senator Yee (D-San Francisco) is aiming to stop pay hikes for top executives in the CSU and UC systems in years when tuition has been increased or state funding has dwindled. SB 967, introduced on Jan. 17, seeks to stop incoming executives from receiving significantly higher salaries than their predecessors, capped at 105 percent of their predecessor’s salary. According to Adam Keigwin, chief of staff to Senator Yee, the content of SB 967 should be considered by the University of California regardless of whether the bill succeeds. As an autonomous entity, the University of California would not be forced to accept the provisions of the bill if it were passed. Instead, the state leaders could only request UC TRENDS FROM PAGE 1
Campos stated, “The demand for the UCR campus has continued to grow over the past few years and [UCR] has become a popular campus of first choice for undergraduate prospective students; as such, I expect that UCR will continue to receive increased applications.” With the current pool of applicants expanding, students may find it more difficult to gain admittance into the University of California due to increased competition. In an article by the Los Angeles Times, UC’s Interim Director of Undergraduate Admissions Kate Jeffery explained that state budget cuts on education will continue to hinder enrollment rates. Consequentially, she argues that a record number of applicants will be denied admission into their first-choice campus. Statistics reveal that UC Los Angeles ranks as the most popular campus in the system, with 91,512 freshman and transfer applications. UC Berkeley follows afterward with 77,378 applicants, while UC San Diego places third with 75,987 applicants. UC Riverside’s admissions have become stricter, with 37,606 students applying for transfer or admission into the campus. “With the increased demand for admission to our campus, we simply don’t have sufficient space or resources to admit all UC eligible applicants. Therefore, admission to our campus is much more competitive and many qualified applicants will not gain admission to UCR,” Campos said. With the growing number of instate and nonresident applicants, admissions officers face an increasingly difficult task. “This is a challenge we face each year; however, the undergraduate admissions office has a very dedicated team of admission counselors and staff who do whatever it takes to get admission offers out to our applicants in an expedited fashion. UCR has historically been the first UC campus to begin posting admission decisions for both freshman and transfer students and we intend to continue this practice as long as it can be feasibly achieved,” H said Campos.■
that the UC implement such an initiative on their own. If passed, however, SB 967 would be backed by the force of the law at CSU campuses. Last year, when the president of San Diego State was hired, he received a salary $100,000 higher than his predecessor, who was paid $300,000. This pay increase was made during the same year that the CSU Board of Trustees raised the fall tuition by 12 percent. In July of 2011, the UC Board of Regents raised tuition by 9.6 percent on top of an 8 percent increase already approved for the fall quarter, while giving the head of the UCSF medical center a pay increase of nearly $200,000 (bringing his salary to $935,000 a year) and a retention bonus of a million dollars to be paid out over 4 years. These salary adjust-
ments have been a source of fierce criticism among members of the UC community who have to face the consequences of dwindling resources and elevated costs. “[Yee] waited until Governor Brown took office, and didn’t initially introduce it in hopes that CSU and UC Regents had learned their lesson and realize what they had done was wrong,” said Keigwin. “And then low and behold, last year they decided to do it again. Obviously, they don’t seem to get it and that’s why Senator Yee introduced the bill again this year.” Yee’s office remains optimistic that the bill will get Governor Brown’s signature should it make it to his desk. Senator Yee introduced a similar version of this bill three years ago, although it was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger. The bill had nonetheless garnered overwhelming bi-partisan support from the floor. “I agree [with the bill]. There should be more policies like this to make it more of a public education system and less of a business. The students should have more of a say,” said recent UC Riverside graduate Lindsey Jefferson. “I think they should include deans in the description, they’re executives. Is it UC’s job to maximize profit or are they just supposed to provide this public good?” asked Steven Levkoff, an economics professor at UC Riverside. “It’s their job to provide public education, but they should also be responsible for doing it in the most cost effective way. It’s the executive’s job to lobby the state for funding.”
As defined in the bill, “Executive officer” includes, but is not limited to, the chancellor of the California State University, a vice chancellor of the university, an executive vice chancellor of the university, the general counsel of the university, the trustees’ secretary and the president of an individual campus. “I do think it’s a smart decision to cut top executive’s pay when they’re increasing our tuition,” stated Morgan Fujimoto, a second-year student at UC Riverside. When asked if he supported the bill, third-year student Amir Ahmadi said, “Education is the most important thing in this country, but apparently, trying to make a profit and distributing money to other branches like military and government expenditures is more important. So H my answer is hell yes!” ■