SF State professors and lecturers, dressed in their caps and gowns, protested the California State University's proposed merit-based salary system that would stop automatic annual pay raises for all CSU faculty yesterday in Malcolm X Plaza.
They also denounced California's move to give more financial support to prisons rather than education.
"California has turned its back on education," said Rick Gutierrez, SF State California Faculty Association president.
The CFA is against the proposed salary system because the CSU wants to begin giving raises based on professor's performance reviews. Previously, a professor was almost guaranteed an annual 5 percent raise.
A postcard distributed through the audience addressed to the CSU Board of Trustees and Chancellor Barry Munitz expressed the CFA's reluctance to support the change in the salary system.
"Despite years of debilitating budget cuts, and escalating workloads, CSU faculty have continued their commitment to quality education," the postcard said.
At one point during the afternoon rally, faculty and staff members marched into a mock prison cell to illustrate their frustrations with the state's willingness to fund prisons. However, speaker Hollis Matson of the Academic Senate did not march into the fake cell.
"I couldn't go into jail. The voters have already put us there," Matson said, referring to California voters' overwhelming support for increased crime prevention legislation like the "three strikes," initiative.
SF State President Robert A. Corrigan, who was the first speaker at the rally, said funding for higher education has been decreasing over the years.
"Five years ago, 13 percent of the state's revenue went to education. Now it's 9 percent," he said.
Criminology Professor Mike Rustigan said building more prisons is not a solution for the rising crime rate and money should be put into crime prevention.
Tim Sampson, former CFA president, echoed Rustigan's sentiment and encouraged the crowd to chant, "Join our fight, share our vision, money for classes, not for prisons."
The CFA supporters encouraged students to join their protest. "Why are you apathetic about your own education?" Jose Cuellar, chair of the La Raza studies department, asked. "Where are you students? You will be the ones to suffer."
But some students were skeptical about the CFA's motives. Jose Martinez, a senior art major, said that the faculty is concerned only when their interests are at stake.
"We haven't had their support when we were protesting fee increases," Martinez said.
Sociology Professor Karen Hossfeld disagreed and said she always tries to attend student protests.
Three faculty members from SF State will join instructors from other CSU campuses to attend the next trustees' meeting in Long Beach on May 9 to protest the salary plan, according to Gutierrez.