Cal State Students Protest Raises : Education: They tell accreditation panel about ‘absurd’ pay hikes to administrators and a deteriorating campus.

A national panel reviewing Cal State Los Angeles’ accreditation heard strong protests from students Thursday about poor physical conditions on campus and about large pay raises awarded to top Cal State administrators.

About 150 students rallied at noon in front of the school’s student union building as activists denounced as “absurd” a 43% pay hike--to $195,000--given last month to Cal State system Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds and the raises of between 21% and 28% awarded to 27 other university officials, including campus President James M. Rosser. That money should be used to help repair damage remaining on campus from the October, 1987, earthquake, the protesters complained.

“Why is the library being held up with a piece of wood when President Rosser is being paid $130,000?” David Smalley, editorial editor at the University Times, the student newspaper, asked. The connecting bridge between the two wings of the library has been closed since the earthquake and large wooden railroad ties keep it from collapsing.

The students marched to a nearby auditorium in King Hall, a wing of which also has been held up by wooden beams since the quake. There, an accreditation committee from the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, which visits schools every 10 years and had scheduled an hourlong forum on student concerns, heard a spirited gripe session.

“I am astounded by the number of people here,” Robert Rosenzweig, WASC committee chairman, told the students. Rosenzweig is president of the Assn. of American Universities, a group of the 56 most prestigious research universities in the United States.

Rosenzweig and other members of the WASC team promised students that the complaints would be reflected in their report, on which a formal decision on accreditation renewal will rest.

In the extremely rare instance that accreditation is withdrawn, a school’s degrees are scorned by the rest of academia.

Cal State leaders said the raises were intended to bring salaries in line with those at comparable institutions around the nation. They stress that funds for the raises were drawn from a salary pool appropriated by the Legislature and could not be used for earthquake repairs or book purchases. However, they concede that the raises have become a hot political issue at a time when Cal State professors are receiving raises of 4.8%.

“It’s a difficult question of balancing a number of important competing interests,” Caesar Naples, the Cal State system’s vice chancellor for faculty and staff relations, said in a telephone interview Thursday. He said that attracting capable leadership to the 20-campus system is as important as some of the concerns raised by the students.

The Whittier Narrows earthquake caused $20.5 million in damage at Cal State Los Angeles. A garage panel collapsed and killed a student during the quake, and the second-largest classroom building was closed. Squabbling between the state and federal government over who should pay for earthquake repairs caused long delays, but officials say the work will be completed by fall.