Academic compensation

Re “Ivory tower or gold mine?” Opinion, Oct. 4

The California State University Board of Trustees has adopted a five-year plan to make compensation more competitive for all university employees. Fortunately, we’re making some progress on closing the market salary lag for several employee classifications. CSU presidents face a salary lag of 46% behind their peers at comparable institutions. Even with the recently approved average salary increase of 11.8%, they will still be about 35% below market. The board has been forced to deal with large budget cuts while facing increased enrollment. At the same time, we are working to pay all employees more competitively. Without that goal, the CSU will continue to face recruitment challenges that will erode the quality and value of our institutions.

Roberta Achtenberg

Chair, Board of Trustees

California State University

Long Beach

Tyler Dilts is on the money in revealing that the regnant MBA mind-set has turned yet another of our institutions, the university, into a variant of the old Southern plantation. A class of overseers, excessively compensated and devoted to status and power, sits atop a pyramid of house workers (full-time faculty) and disposable field hands (adjuncts). Dilts’ observations raise once more the embarrassing question of whether America can run without a slave class.

Stanley H. Nemeth

Garden Grove