Photo Illustration by Matt Weir / The Collegian

State budget cuts have affected everyone affiliated with the California State University system.

Faculty and staff will lose nearly 10 percent of their salaries due to furloughs, and students have seen fee increases of approximately 30 percent in the last year.

In response, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed made several statements voicing his opinion about the cuts.

“Our fiscal meltdown has so distorted our legislative priorities that we are now a state that places a higher priority on prison than on higher education,â€Â Reed said in a statement July 27.

The reasoning behind this statement, Reed explained, was the fact that it costs $49,000 annually to keep a prisoner behind bars in California, but the state only contributes $4,600 for each CSU student.

Two days later in a video message aimed at CSU employees, Reed spoke of the tough choices he had faced.

“These have not been easy discussions because many difficult choices have had to be made. And I realize that these are choices that affect people’s livelihoods,â€Â Reed said in a video message to employees July 29.

Reed and his office have worked to get the message out that the CSU must remain optimistic, and that we are all in this predicament together.

“Through all of this, I want to make sure that we serve our students and our employees to the best of our ability,â€Â Reed said in his July 29 video message. “That will come with sacrifice. I believe, however, that the pain may be a little more tolerable if we all share the responsibility.â€Â

However, in November of 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Reed had given hefty pay raises to top executives despite the fact that the university seemed to be heading toward a budget crisis.

According to the Chronicle, Ronnie Higgs, the vice president of student affairs at CSU Monterey Bay, received a pay raise of $22,500. This raised his salary to $140,004 annually.

The Chronicle also reported that Susana Gajic-Bruyea, the vice president of university advancement at CSU Stanislaus, received a $12,996 pay increase. Her salary is now $143,004.

In addition, The Collegian found two cases where new or permanent positions were filled by Reed, with substantial salary increases.

John Whitmore replaced Don Kassing as the president of San Jose State. Kassing was making $305,008 for the 2007-08 year. Whitmore̢۪s salary as president is $328,209.

Gail Brooks, who worked as the interim vice chancellor of human resources for the 2007-08 year, was appointed to a permanent position last year. Her salary went from $232,000 to $255,200.

In an e-mail interview with Clara Potes-Fellow, the director of media relations for the CSU, she stated that for the 2009 fiscal year no managers or other CSU employees received salary increases. Potes-Fellow responded, however, that members of the CSU faculty received $44 million in salary raises in 2009.

In response, the Fresno State chapter president of the California Faculty Association, Lisa Weston, said she was not aware of any faculty members who received salary increases in 2009.

“I don’t know who that would have been,â€Â she said.

In fact, Weston, who is also an English professor at Fresno State, said that CSU faculty members haven̢۪t received any of their scheduled pay raises in the past two years.

According to their contracts, faculty should have received a 3.7 percent salary increase effective July 1, 2008, Weston said. This increase was denied. Faculty also should have received a two percent increase on June 30, 2009 followed by another four percent increase when the 2009-10 fiscal year started on July 1.

Weston said that neither of these raises went into effect.