Administrative raises, fees will not be linked

A bill that would have prevented top college administrators from receiving raises when student fees are increased by more than 10 percent, was vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson Friday.

Assembly Bill 2714 would have prohibited salary increases of Cal ifornia State University and University of California executive officers who earn between $100,000 and $280,000 a year, when student-registration fees are raised by more than 10 percent.

The bill's author, Assemblywoman Betty Karnette (who represe nts Long Beach), said that by limiting raises and eliminating increases in housing allowances and other administrative benefits, administrators would have been forced to share the pain of the budget crunch with students.

But Wilson said the bill wa s overly simplistic and would have hampered recruitment and management-retention efforts in the CSU and UC systems.

Scott Charmack, associate vice president of physical planning and facilities at Cal State Long Beach, also expressed reservations ab out the bill. "The positions of vice president and president are very necessary, and we must recruit to be competitive against other schools' salaries," he said.

"This bill [was] a symbolic effort to try and keep fees down, but if the Legislature w ants to keep fees at a certain level, than there needs to be a release of what the entire budget is," Charmack said.

Charmack said that it is sometimes necessary to pay top dollar for top executives, because they are more experienced and can ultimat ely benefit a college.

Karnette claimed that universities lobbied against the bill from the beginning, and said their arguments failed to convince her. "Public servant administrators are not that hard to find," Karnette said.

The assemblywoman said the general public's impression that colleges are doing all they can to help students is a myth, and stressed the importance of keeping student fees reasonable.

"I was able to go to college because it wasn't expensive," Karnette said. "I would not have been able to go if fees were hiked the way they are today."

Karnette said regardless of the outcome, she will continue the fight to keep salaries and student fees from inching upward.

The CSULB Associated Students Inc. adopted a resolut ion Sept. 7 supporting AB 2714.

"When leaders of a university ask the students, faculty and staff to sacrifice, the leaders of such a university should lead by example ... " the resolution stated.