McClatchy Tribune

Just months after saddling the California State University and University of California systems with multi-million dollar cuts, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Sunday that would have limited salary increases and bonuses for CSU and UC executives during times of economic turmoil.

The veto means that top executives will be eligible to receive hefty pay raises in spite of the fact that the CSU is operating under a budget that is $215 million below its needs and the UC is $531 million below.

What’s more, top executives in the higher educational system have watched idly as the 23-CSU campuses and the 10-UC campuses have admitted more students than they could adequately fund and have grossly overspent on capitol projects. In return they get a pay raise and the promise of more to come no matter what is happening in the larger economy.

In 2009 alone, the UC Board of Regents has already approved approximately $9 million in executive compensation increases.

In times of deepening fiscal cutbacks and drastic reductions in education, university execs should not be afforded pay raises and opulent bonuses when every other pocket of education is forced to drastically cut back. This is self-evident, and the vetoing of the bill, which had large bipartisan support, calls for public outrage if anything in recent memory has.

About his veto, Schwarzenegger said, “A blanket prohibition limiting the flexibility for the UC and CSU to compete both nationally and internationally in attracting and retaining high level personnel does a disservice to those students seeking the kind of quality education that our higher education segments offer.”

Yet the governor had no qualms about blanket class cuts, faculty furloughs and fee increases for CSU and UC students. His statement implies that limits to executive pay increases in bad economic years would put our education system at a recruiting disadvantage when compared to other states and nations, who apparently are prone to executive pay raises during recessions.

But what does this say to prospective out-of-state or international students? It tells them that our state government does not care about them, and that the way to attain success here is to have connections to the top.

In a statement released to the Governor’s office, the bill’s author, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) said that he was disappointed with the veto and that it would ensure that top executives live comfortably at the expense of students, calling it a slap in the face.

“His veto protects the UC and CSU administration’s egregious executive compensation practices and allows them to continue to act more like AIG than a public trust,” Yee said.

We can’t expect to see resurgence in higher education if execs continue to line their pockets with money that would be better served elsewhere.

Despite unprecedented budget cuts, furloughs and enrollment freezes, fiscal belt-tightening for university execs have not been on par with the sacrifices made at the student level. Spending at the executive level in the CSU and UC has risen steadily in recent years, as The Collegian reported in August.

And, as our governor ensured on Sunday, without public intervention it will continue to swell for years to come.