Professors question pay cuts

Their salaries have already shrunk, say several Yuba College professors who are among staff asked to take a 3 percent pay cut as the Yuba Community College District tries to adjust to a $4 million loss of state funds.

Instructors also question the figures the college district provides about its finances — and how officials have spent funds.

"Fiscal decisions are made in isolation," said English professor Brian Jukes. "They end up being poor decisions."

"The money is not going to solve anything," Jukes said of the pay cut. "It's a Band-Aid. It's not a fix."

Jukes said he'll await a financial review of the Yuba college district by a University of Michigan professor before he decides about the pay cut sought by trustees and affecting about 400 employees.

College district trustees Tuesday recommended all employees take the 3 percent reduction. Adrian Lopez, college district spokesman, cited that same voluntary salary reduction taken by two-thirds of the 45 managers and has saved $65,000.

English professor Greg Kemble called the request "an attempt to misdirect from the mismanagement" of the college district.

"They never say what percentage of classified employees they'd be able to save" with such a salary reduction, Kemble said.

Music professor Robert Mathews said his salary is already reduced because he's teaching seven classes rather than nine after college district officials asked staff for help with the deficit.

"My income this coming spring will be 18 percent less than it would have been," Mathews said.

He said his class reduction is intended to aid the 58 classified employees — including custodians, secretaries and groundskeepers — who face layoffs in January.

Administrators are willing to layoff classified staff to save money, Mathews said. But no college district administrators are losing their jobs, he said.

"They're saying times are difficult," he said. "I don't see them doing anything that causes them difficulty."

Trustee Brent Hastey said college district management was the first to take the pay cut.

He understands that some college professors may have already lost pay because of summer school cutbacks. Hastey cited cuts companies are making, state workers who have been furloughed and the Los Angeles Unified School District asking for a 12 percent reduction in employees' pay.

"In a crisis everybody gets to help," he said.

Lopez said professors teaching such courses as summer school represent overtime for instructors.

"If they're receiving less in their paychecks, it's because they're not teaching," Lopez said. "No salary reductions have been put in place for faculty."

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com.