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Major Reforms Set to Hit California's Higher Education Systems

Higher Education Governance Accountability Act Signed Into Law

By Leland Yee, Ph.D.
Assistant President pro Tem
California State Senate

A few days ago, the Governor signed into law legislation I authored in response to the recent executive pay scandals at the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU). Senate Bill (SB) 190, the Higher Education Governance Accountability Act, is designed to bring major reforms to the governing boards of the two higher education systems and to end the continuing executive pay hikes that have recently tarnished our public institutions.

The Legislature and the Governor have now sent a very clear message to the UC and CSU: it is time to end the culture of secrecy and arrogance. No longer should the students, faculty and staff – the backbone of our public universities – be left to bear the burden, while top execs live high on the hog.

SB 190 comes after a series of audits, lawsuits and other revelations found that the UC and the CSU failed to get public approval from the Regents and Trustees for compensation packages and that some top executives were paid more than what was released to the public. Over the past several months, the Regents and Trustees have handed out a number of excessive executive compensation payouts and also increased student fees.

Specifically, SB 190 (Chapter 523) will require all executive compensation packages to be voted on in an open session of a subcommittee and the full board. The bill would also require full disclosure of the compensation package with accompanying rationale, allow the public to comment on such action items, and make public previously closed advisory group meetings that deal with compensation matters.

Executive salaries have gotten so out of control that both the CSU Chancellor and the UC President now make in excess of $400,000. A recent UC salary report showed that over $5 million was spent on executive bonuses in the past year alone. Last month at the first Trustees meeting of the new school year, the CSU also approved exorbitant pay raises for their top executives while once again hiking student fees.

In fact, the CSU increased pay for their top twenty-eight executives a combined $840,767 for a total of $8,263,268 in salaries. The twenty-three campus presidents are set to receive a pay hike on average of 11.7 percent, bringing their average salary to $291,821. The top five executives in the Chancellor’s office will receive an average increase of 9.9 percent, making their average salary $310,274. These increases are in addition to receiving a free house or $60,000 a year for housing allowances as well as $1,000 month for automobiles.

In comparison, the faculty are scheduled to receive only a 4.7 percent pay increase and the Chancellor has rejected a proposal to give support staff a meager 3.5 percent increase. While Student fees at CSU have increased 100 percent over the past five years, executive pay has increased nearly 35 percent.

It is shocking that the Trustees just don’t get it. Who in the world is worth this kind of taxpayer money while student fees increase and the faculty and staff get nominal pay? The Trustees continuously fail to recognize that this is a public institution, not a get rich factory for executives.

As a graduate of both the UC and CSU, I want to make sure our higher education systems succeed by investing in instruction. SB 190 will bring much needed sunshine to executive compensation discussions, provide members of the media the democratic access they deserve, and help restore the public’s trust.

This legislation is an important first step in ensuring the accountability of the universities to the people of California. While SB 190 doesn’t officially become law until January 1, the UC and CSU should immediately implement the various previous of this bill.

Finally, I want to thank the students, faculty and staff members, good government advocates, labor unions, and the hundreds of taxpayers that supported SB 190 and helped bring about these commonsense and necessary changes.

Leland Yee is a member of the California State Senate Democratic Leadership team and the Assistant President pro Tem of the Senate. Senator Yee is also a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.

Posted on October 22, 2007

Comments

This sounds like a big step in the right direction. Now how about cutting their pay? Thank you for some common sense Legislation that actually helps educators and students rather than fleece them.

Posted by: Morris1 at October 22, 2007 08:27 PM

This is good news. Remember a few years ago when former chancellor Carnesdale of UCLA advocated huge tuition increases "befitting" the prestige of the campus? Everybody up there loved the guy! What a nut.

Here's a great link to the story-- written by the same, I believe:

http://www.ucnuclearfree.org/articles/2004/10/08_hong_ucla-chancellor-calls-for-tuition-boost.htm

Posted by: Jim Carlile at October 23, 2007 07:27 PM

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