College Leaders Join in Opposition to Wage-Limiting Initiative

In an unusual joint appearance, the heads of UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Chapman College and Saddleback Community College District held a news conference Monday morning to praise Proposition 56 and to denounce Proposition 61.

Both measures will be on the Nov. 4 California ballot. Proposition 56 would authorize $400 million in state bonds for numerous construction projects on the campuses of state-supported colleges and universities. Proposition 61, an initiative authored by Paul Gann, would put a lid on public employees’ salaries, including those of teachers.

President Jewel Plummer Cobb of Cal State Fullerton said Proposition 61’s passage “would be devastating.”

“It would bring havoc to Cal State Fullerton in the form of clamping a lid on our ability to recruit and retain the most talented people,” she said.

Gann, in qualifying Proposition 61 for the ballot this fall, has called it the “California Fair Pay Amendment.” But a wide range of critics, including the nonprofit research organization Cal-Tax have said that the measure would cause the state profound problems.

According to the Sacramento-based Cal-Tax, “It (Proposition 61) is unworkable, poorly drafted, counterproductive to good public management and could potentially cost California taxpayers much more than it ever might save in cutting and freezing salaries.”

Among the dangers of Proposition 61 is its uncertain language, UC Irvine Chancellor Jack W. Peltason said at the press conference. He said the measure is unclear about whether the ceiling to be imposed would include or exclude fringe benefits. If fringe benefits are included in salary limits, he said large numbers of college and university employees would lose significant amounts of money.

The Gann proposal uses two different words, salary and compensation, in the controversial section of the initiative that would restrict pay. It says the initiative would limit compensation of all state and local public employees, with the exception of some constitutional officers, to 80% of the governor’s salary. Cal-Tax has noted that the word compensation usually refers to both salary and benefits given an employee.

Cobb said that in addition to limiting compensation, Proposition 61 “would cause employees to lose basic benefits; it would take away all their earned sick leave and vacation time. . . .”

Peltason and Cobb said that Proposition 56, the education bond issue measure, would help both their campuses by financing several major construction projects. Richard Sneed, chancellor of Saddleback Community College District in south Orange County, said the bond issue also would help Irvine Valley College, one of the two community colleges in that district.

“Proposition 61, on the other hand, is, as one radio statement put it, ‘the enshrinement of mediocrity,’ ” Sneed said.

G.T. Smith, president of Chapman College, a private institution in Orange, said nonpublic colleges and universities also are interested in seeing Proposition 61 defeated and Proposition 56 passed on Nov. 4.

“We feel the independent (college) sector will indeed be helped and strengthened if the total fabric of education in the state is enhanced,” Smith said.