Executive Compensation: A Message from Chancellor Reed and Trustee Achtenberg

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Some of you may have read or heard about the stories that appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere last week about the CSU's executive compensation policies. We thought it was important for staff, faculty and students to have the factual information about the CSU policies that are the focus of these stories.

 

The policies governing the CSU executive compensation program are ones that have been adopted by our Board in public session and adhered to in practice. The current policies are posted on our Web site.  

 

As a public institution, we are deeply committed to being transparent in our actions as a Board. Some of the criticisms voiced by individuals quoted in the news coverage involve the public disclosure of the Board policies, the process of assigning duties and compensation to executives and the briefing of our Trustees. We can assure you there was nothing secretive about these agreements and that, in every instance, details were reported in accordance with Board policy. We are, however, sensitive to the need to ensure that we are upholding the public trust and, for this reason, will be re-examining how we can be more proactive about letting the public know about our operations.

 

As a final note, we want to let you know that we are open to the examination of all our executive compensation policies. It is appropriate that we strive for policies that make sense for the future while continuing to ensure compensation parity with comparable institutions for all CSU employees. If changes need to be made, we will do so in a thoughtful and public process.  

We have attached a question and answer sheet about the CSU executive compensation policies to provide some context. That document is also available on our Web site at https://www.calstate.edu/executive/060725_qa.shtml. Our goal is to ensure that the CSU fulfills its mission of access to quality education for students and accountability to the public. We look forward to working with all of you as we move forward.

 

CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed and

Roberta Achtenberg, Chair, CSU Board of Trustees