Northridge President Awarded Raise of 5%

Cal State University Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson won a 5% raise Wednesday, bringing her annual salary to $181,752 but dropping her from fourth-highest to seventh among the 23 campus presidents.

Wilson’s salary increase was far below that of nearly all of her colleagues, more than half of whom were granted increases Wednesday ranging from 11% to 14% by the California State University trustees.

Only the recently named interim president of the Dominguez Hills campus, who received no raise, received less than Wilson.

The president of the as-yet-unopened Channel Islands campus was, like Wilson, awarded 5%. The next-lowest raise of 8% went to the president of the Maritime Academy in Vallejo.

CSU spokesman Ken Swisher said the salary increases are based on performance, the size and complexity of the campus, and an evaluation by Chancellor Charles Reed. He could not explain why Wilson’s raise lagged behind the others.

“All I can tell you is she was judged as all the other presidents were judged,” Swisher said.

Last year, Wilson’s salary increased from $154,536 to $173,088, a 12% hike, which made her the fourth-highest earner among the CSU presidents.

“Last year, she got one of the largest raises in the system,” CSUN spokesman John Chandler said.

Wilson also gets a $26,400 housing allowance per year and a car.

Through a spokesman, Wilson declined to discuss the raises, saying, “I don’t set my own salary and so that is something that is best addressed to the chancellor.”

The CSU trustees are in the second year of a three-year plan to raise the presidents’ salaries to parity with their counterparts at comparable universities across the country, Swisher said. A California Post-Secondary Commission study showed the CSU chiefs earned less than presidents of similar universities.

The 20 schools used for comparison in the study included Rutgers, Arizona State, North Carolina State and the University of Connecticut.

At $202,404, the president of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is the system’s best-paid president. The San Marcos president won the highest raise this year--14.2%

The presidents of Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Long Beach were given raises of 12% and 13%, respectively.