A fact-finder's report siding with the professors' demands for more money has spurred California State University faculty and administrators back to the bargaining table. The CSU administration should now do what it has resisted: agree to give the instructors a substantial pay increase and end a stalemate that, if not settled, will probably lead to a strike next month.

The fact-finder is recommending that the faculty be given a 25 percent raise over four years. That's close to what the faculty union had asked for but significantly more than the administration had offered, once all factors had been included.

An independent analysis concluded that CSU professors are paid, on average, 18 percent less than peers in comparable institutions. The proposed raise would lessen, though not eliminate, the gap. A tenured full professor earns, on average, $86,000, while a full-time lecturer is paid only $43,000.

California's higher education systems are internationally respected. However, in an increasingly competitive environment, they will maintain their reputation only as long as they can lure and keep excellent professors and lecturers. That's especially true at universities in high cost areas, like San Jose State.

The faculty union, covering professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians and coaches, voted overwhelmingly this month to go on strike if their leadership asks for it. A series of rolling, two-day walkouts at the system's 23 campuses

San Jose Mercury News editorial,  March 28, 2007