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The ‘Whipping Boys’ of California Higher Education, CSU Faculty Say Strike Vote is About Getting Respect For Their Work, Protecting Students

As they enter the final day of voting to authorize a work stoppage, California State University faculty say they’re tired of being “devalued,” and they demand competitive salaries, improved student services and better leadership of the nation’s largest university system. 

Voting by California Faculty Association members at all 23 CSU campuses started March 8 and continues through today. Should the final poll results, to be issued on March 21 after the League of Women Voters in Los Angeles count the ballots, favor a strike, the system could see a two-day rolling strike this spring.

The CFA vote comes after 22 months of negotiations with CSU chancellor Dr. Charles Reed failed to produce a satisfactory agreement.

“We have very, very significant disagreements with the chancellor in the way he is establishing his priorities and spending the public trust at CSU,” says Dr. Cecil E. Canton, president of the CFA’s chapter at CSU-Sacramento. “He has chosen to spend money on different things that we disagree with, and we are taking action.”

In January, CSU trustees approved a 4 percent pay raise for 27 executives, which stoked tensions between faculty members and students and the administration. Canton says the faculty must stand up for students, who will pay 10 percent more in student fees next fall. Trustees, who approved the fee increase yesterday, said CSU still has the most affordable tuition among comparable universities nationwide.

“We are telling the legislature we are not looking for new money, the money is in the system. It already exists. It’s about the chancellor understanding that the faculty, staff and students are the priority,” says Canton. “We believe the chancellor and the trustees have not been good stewards of the CSU system.”

He says it’s becoming difficult to retain faculty systemwide.

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