Cal State trustees approve pay for six presidents -- with no raises

The California State University Board of Trustees on Tuesday set compensation for six campus presidents, with none receiving a raise.

Presidents Willie J. Hagan at Dominguez Hills will receive $295,000; Eduardo M. Ochoa at Monterey Bay, $270,315; Joseph F. Sheley at Stanislaus, $270,000; Joseph I. Castro at Fresno, $299,000; William A. Covino at L.A., $299,000; and Donald J. Para, interim president at Long Beach, $320,329.

Covino begins duties Sept. 1; his salary represents an 8% decrease from his predecessor’s. Castro will assume his post Aug. 1.

All of the presidents received a $1,000-per-month car allowance and a housing allowance or requirement that they live in the official campus residence.

Trustees approved the compensation packages without discussion. Chancellor Timothy P. White, however, made a point of emphasizing that the salaries “do not exceed the previous incumbents’ in all cases … and no supplemental pay is being considered for any of them.”

The governing board’s history of hiking salaries for incoming executives has been contentious, provoking a public outcry and criticism from Gov. Jerry Brown, state lawmakers as well as students and faculty, who questioned the hikes during a time of fiscal constraints and rising tuition.

The reaction reached a boiling point in 2011 when trustees approved an annual salary of $400,000 for the new president of San Diego State, Elliot Hirshman, while also approving a 12% tuition increase at the same meeting. Hirshman’s compensation was $100,000 more than his predecessor’s.

Trustees and then-Chancellor Charles B. Reed argued that the raises were needed to attract well-qualified executives who are expected to focus on fundraising, among many other duties.

After the Hirshman furor, trustees adopted a new policy to freeze compensation paid with state funds while allowing a 10% increase from private donations.

In a further indication of change, White requested in November 2012 that the state-funded portion of his salary be reduced by 10% from the $421,500 that Reed made to $380,000, which the board approved.

Faculty members at Tuesday’s meeting generally applauded the freeze.

“I think the chancellor set the right tone when he took the job,” said Kevin Wehr, a Sacramento State sociology professor who also is chair of the political and legislative committee for the California Faculty Assn. “I’m glad to see that perspective hasn’t changed. But we’re still dealing with decades of excess from the times of Reed.”

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carla.rivera@latimes.com