College administrators in the California State University system continue to improve their own quality of life while forcing hard-working students to foot the bill.
On Sept. 19, the CSU Board of Trustees voted to raise executive salaries 11.8 percent after approving a seven-percent undergraduate rate hike earlier this year that increased annual tuition to approximately $7,300.
Cal State-Bakersfield president Horace Mitchell was among the 22 CSU presidents to benefit from the raise, receiving an additional $26,000 per year to raise his salary from $259,010 to $285,000, according to the Bakersfield Californian. Mitchell also receives an additional $50,000 per year for housing and a $12,000 per year car allowance. The highest-paid CSU president is at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and receives a salary of $328,209.
How can people that claim to represent the best interests of college students and faculty be so selfish? Why do they need so much more money anyway? With all of the money being spent on perks like free cars and housing, all of that extra scratch becomes disposable income.
Essentially, the money that a CSUB student could have spent on buying books or paying for the rent is instead being used by Mitchell for adding a couple zeros on his entertainment budget.
CSU trustees argue that rate increases are necessary to entice quality administrators from other states to the CSU system. They claim that other states with higher tuitions pay administrators more, so they must keep up with the trend.
The hole in that logic is that administrators aren’t quality administrators if all that motivates them to come to a CSU is the paycheck. The student body and the quality of the programs offered at the school should play a larger part in their decision.
The California Faculty Association, a labor union for faculty in the CSU system, decided that they had enough and put forth AB 1413, a bill that would regulate CSU compensation proceedings. Passed by both houses of the state legislature, AB 1413 was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Oct. 12.
While Gov. Schwarzenegger has been supportive of community colleges, he has managed to turn his back on four-year universities in California with this veto. His pro-community-college platform turns into a gallows for transfer students after just two years.
Students at four-year institutions should be given more opportunities to voice their opinions on decisions affecting them rather than having them arbitrated by a group of overpaid pencil pushers.