Teachers, Students Protest Growing "Decline in Quality Education"

Save our university.

That's the message from teachers and students who picketed at the East Cotati Avenue and Rohnert Park Expressway entrances to Sonoma State University Tuesday morning. All 23 California State University campuses are participating in the demonstration today and tomorrow.

Boasting messages such as, "We are the 99 percent," and "Negotiate a fair contract now," picketers protested what they're calling "warped priorities" by California State University execs.

That includes tuition that has skyrocketed to nearly $3,500 per semester for full-time students, up from about $1,800 per semester in 2000, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

Furthermore, Sonoma State students said they've experienced fewer available classes, less teachers and delays in graduation.

There's "no such thing" as graduating on time, said Katelynn Tanner, 18, a Sonoma State freshman majoring in education. "I'm concerned about the quality of my education, and even getting into classes."

Kia Kolderup-Lane, 21, a senior majoring in political science, said she was concerned about ballooning tuition and bigger classes.

"This is just insane," she said. "With faculty spread so thin, I'm concerned we're not getting the education that's going to prepare us for the real world."

Chants erupted intermittently in the early morning hours.

"Whose school? Our school," some said. "We are the 99 percent!"

Andy Merrifield, president of Sonoma State's chapter of the California Faculty Association, said it's about educating the public.

"Quality education is diminshing, while salaries for CSU managers are getting more and more outrageous," Merrifield said. "We've been negotiating a contract to get adequately compensated for 16 months."

Merrifield said in the last ten years, the university system has added 100,000 more students, and while thee number of faculty has remained roughly the same. At the same time, management salaries have increased, while the only thing that has increased for teachers is the workload, he said. 

Merrifield underscored his frustration of ballooning executive bonuses and compensation OK'd by Chancellor Charles Reed, pointing out that Elliot Hirshman, the president of San Diego State University, was hired for $100,000 more than his predecessor in July — at $400,000 a year.

Faculty said at Sonoma State University, it's not much different — highlighting President Ruben Arminana's "bloated salary."

Susan Kashack, a Sonoma State spokeswoman, confirmed that Arminana makes $291,179 a year, with an additional $60,000 annual housing allowance and a car courtesy of the university.

David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State, said the ongoing battle was about how the cuts are impacting the quality of education.

"That means protecting quality education, accessibilty and affordability," McCuan said. "We're also here because of this chancellor's distorted priorities. He thinks it's better to give raises to senior managers — to the tune of millions of dollars — than it is to negotiate a fair contract."

"But that is not as central today," he added. "We're here becasue we want to raise awareness about quality education, to change the tone of the conversation."

Kashack said university officials back the movement.

"We support the effort that they're undertaking by doing this informational picketing," she said. "Anything that anyone can do to get more funding for higher education, find a way to get appropriate compensation, smaller classes and more of them so that students can graduate on time, and promote the hiring of more faculty and staff, we're in favor of."

Kashack said lobbying efforts by Reed and Arminana in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C. have been successful.

"For several years now, it's made a diffference — the cuts are less severe than they may have been otherwise," she said.

Strike Planned for Nov. 17

California State University faculty members voted Monday to approve a one-day strike later this month to protest Chancellor Charles Reed's decision to cancel planned faculty raises. An estimated 1,000 faculty members -- including professors, librarians, and coaches -- will take to the picket lines Nov. 17.

A CSU spokesman said university officials would work to minimize disruptions to school operations at the East Bay and Dominquez Hills campuses on Nov. 17. It is unclear whether or not Sonoma State University is participating in the strike at this time. Stay tuned to Rohnert Park Patch for an update.

While the main issue prompting the strike was Reed's move to renege on scheduled faculty raises, California Faculty Association President Lillian Taiz said the failed contract negotiations symbolize broader problems in the CSU system.

"It represents misplaced priorities on the part of the chancellor -- we've got students paying more and getting less, and faculty working harder and earning less," she said.

Faculty members are asking for pay parity, which would ensure newer hires don't out-earn more experienced faculty members and would cost the university $20 million the first year and $10 million each following year under a new contract.

Taiz said that while raises under the faculty-proposed contract would vary, in all, the CFA is asking for just a quarter of 1 percent of CSU's $5 billion budget.

But CSU chancellor spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said the university can't afford those raises in the face of staggering cuts in state support for California's public colleges.

"It's not fiscally responsible for us to be paying $20 million in salary increases to one group of employees when we did receive massive cuts," he said.

The spokesman acknowledged that some newly hired CSU presidents in recent years have been offered heftier paychecks than their predecessors, but noted that there have also been faculty members who received salary increases during that time.

-Bay City News contributed to this report.