Distrust among faculty and administration deepens

Illustration by Anthony Mata/The Guardsman
Illustration by Anthony Mata/The Guardsman
Illustration by Anthony Mata/The Guardsman

Staff Editorial

Special Trustee Robert Agrella withdrew a proposal to raise City College administrators’ salaries by nearly 20 percent on Jan. 24, when faculty, staff and students protested the potential raises.

Faculty salaries have been on a downward slope and were cut by 4 percent more this semester, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

When the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges did their evaluation of City College in July 2012, they cited issues with the the school’s governance, financial planning, leadership and effective board organization.

These are all issues directly relating to the administration, and reasons why City College was put on “show cause” and possible revocation of the school’s accreditation.

When you keep in mind that administrative issues have contributed to this battle with the commission over accreditation, the proposal is completely meritless.

Not to mention insulting to City College’s faculty and staff.

The commission’s evaluation report said, “City College of San Francisco is commended for several exemplary models of demonstrated educational quality based on their program reviews.”

Administration pay raises can not possibly be justified when faculty wages are being cut, despite a positive evaluation, during this critical time to maintain City College’s status as an accredited institution.

“The intent was to ensure we were complying with an audit requirement,” City College Chancellor Arthur Tyler said in an email posted on an electronic faculty forum. “We had not published an approved schedule that matched what people were being paid. There wasn’t any intent to increase administrative pay.”

The proposal has been taken off the table, and in a public email, the chancellor and special trustee explained that the agenda item was a mistake.

“Last week, there was quite a bit of misinformation regarding administrative salary increases,” the email said.  “Simply stated, it was never the intent that any administrator was to receive a salary increase … when we saw that this had been published on the agenda, we pulled it.”

So how did this proposal come to be posted as a special January item?

Agrella told the San Francisco Chronicle that the item had been placed on the agenda erroneously by an employee and was “not appropriate.” Who is this employee?

It seems with every answer the chancellor and special trustee gives about the proposed salary increase, new questions arise.

And it is only making students, faculty and staff at City College even more weary of the administration.