(With the well-being of our sources in mind, their names will be changed and their descriptions will remain short in case of retaliation against them from the administration. This anonymity is encouraged by the CFA.)
Photo By Dmitry Berdnikov @sk.fotograf
The California Faculty Association (CFA) walked out on a state-wide, one-day strike in support of a 12% raise increase from faculty members at California State Universities. At San Francisco State University, these professors, lecturers, students, and families of all the above, gathered on the corner of 19th and Hollaway Avenue hollering “union power” in a simple, but declarative call and response. Below this chant, a symphony of the drive-by supporters honked their horns, and plastic red trumpets emerging through the tops of the red uniformed crowd made enough noise to be heard down the street. “It’s been a long time coming,” says Brian, an adjunct professor at San Jose State University.
Following a student-led protest against tuition hikes the week prior, the CFA strike comes just before the turning of the new year. It gives CSU faculty members enough time to organize before renegotiating their contracts on Jun. 30, 2024, a year that will mark the beginning of a 6% tuition hike for the next 5 years, and the reduction of an estimated 655 classes. “I am full-time right now, and I run out of money to eat sometime in the third week of every month.” Says Marcus, a professor at San Francisco State. “I have five classes now, in the spring I’ll have two classes instead of five.”
These cuts come at a time of growing lack of confidence in the CSU administration and the presidents of California State Schools. San Francisco State’s President, Lynn Mahoney, will make $463,000 this year in salary while having an additional $60,000 to cover her housing. “Students are already paying too much as it is,” says Marcus. A study published in 2016 by California State University, revealed that 8.7%-12% of students are displaced, and an estimated 21%-24% of students are food insecure. “I live with six other roommates, just in the hopes that we can afford anything,” says Brian. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, San Francisco is the tenth most expensive city in the world, and the third most expensive in the United States. “You can only get oppressed for so long,” says George, a professor at San Francisco State. “The cost of living goes up, and our pay doesn’t.” According to a study conducted by the CFA in 2021, the average salary for full-time professors has only increased 1.48% since 2001.
In addition to a 12% pay increase, one San Francisco State University Faculty member, Clair, claimed that “the other part of it is that we put a lot of work in over covid, a lot of unpaid labor to make sure students got the best possible experience they could get. Now that the COVID situation is mostly resolved we are not seeing gratitude from the administration.” Covid was the first mass migration into the online classroom environment and required a new understanding of how to navigate a standard college education.
“I never expected to get rich,” says Marcus “I just thought I’d have enough to eat.”