CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Assembly Unit Urges Pay-Raise Rollback

The 21% to 43% salary raises for top California State University officials should be rolled back to 3.7% and an audit should be done of the university’s administrative costs, an Assembly subcommittee urged. The unanimous action by the ways and means subcommittee on education clearly was intended as a message to the Cal State Board of Trustees, which will be meeting to deal with the pay hikes and allegations of secrecy surrounding them. Subcommittee chairman Robert J. Campbell (D-Richmond) said his budget amendments were intended to make the 20-campus Cal State system “more responsible, more responsive and more open.” Also approved was a requirement that any future decisions about top salaries for Cal State administrators be made at public meetings. The university trustees last fall authorized their chairwoman, Marianthi Lansdale, and system Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds to make salaries for 27 administrators more competitive nationally. But the trustees didn’t vote on the specifics, and subsequent publicity about the raises at a time of austerity caused such an uproar that Reynolds’ hold on her job is said to be at stake this week. On Jan. 1, Reynolds’ pay jumped 43%, to $195,000 a year, and salaries for the campus presidents, vice chancellors and the executive vice chancellor increased 21% to 28%, to a range of from $130,000 to $150,000.