10% less = long rambling blog

So I have been wanting to post this for a few days, I just hadn't gotten around to it until now. But a few days ago I got an email from the California Faculty Association; it was not good news. It seems that the California State University (CSU) system, of which I am a part, is getting hit with a huge budget cut this year; over $500 MILLION!

For a bit of background I should point out that California has an economy larger than most developed countries. It actually has a larger economy than Spain or Canada! One would think that this is a good thing; it probably is, if the state wasn't governed by a bunch of morons. I don't know enough about economics to understand what the root cause of this crisis is, but here are some potential reasons.

Ultimately the problem seems to be the binge and purge nature of the state spending history. If they have money they spend like mad and as soon as it runs out they cut everything. I'm not sure what "brilliant" economists think this is good way to manage one of the largest economies in the world, but I'm fairly certain if this was a Latin American country the government would have been overthrown by now.

So, why am I bitching about this? Well, I have to admit that I have been rather isolated and hadn't really cared about it until recently. I feel bad about this in retrospect, because I am only now faced with the problems that other state employees have already had to face; a 10% cut in salary! This is a huge hit to anyone, particularly in the fashion that it has been done here, which is with little to no notice. Of course it's not called a salary cut, it's called a furlough; you just don't get to come to work on two Fridays each month. Until now this has not affected the universities, but because of the magnitude of the problem, the CSU is now proposing to have faculty members, along with the staff, take furloughs as well.

Of course the problem with this is that nobody seems to have thought through how this will work. Sure, if you are working on a road crew you can take a couple of days off a month and the project will still get finished, eventually. But as a faculty member I don't quite have the same option. I still have to teach my classes, grade homework and exams, prepare lectures and all the rest of the work that keeps me up at night. Now, will I be allowed to just not mark 10% of the students work? I'd be happy with that; I really hate grading. But I won't be able to, I have to maintain the same level of education standards. And what about the other aspects of my job; you know the research, grant and paper writing the part that really keeps me up at nights working my ass off way more than the number of hours I'm paid to work in a week. If I do 10% less on those fronts will I still get tenure? Fuck that, I'll still be judged in the same way I always would have been. So ultimately I will be doing exactly the same amount of work, just for 10% less pay.

Now I realize all the points above are ultimately petty issues. The real problem of course is the surprise salary cut. I have no idea when/if this may (or may not) happen. Nor do I know how long it will last. Oh yeah, if it doesn't happen there may be layoffs; and in such a case the most recently hired faculty (potentially me) will be let go first. The reality of the problem is that I have not been in a position to be saving even close to 10% of my salary each month; so this clearly will not be a good situation. I'm sure we can make it through, but I certainly won't be spending more money. Which makes me wonder; isn't my spending money what helps fuel the economy and increase state funds through tax revenue? I've said I'm not an economist, but I see something fundamentally wrong with this model.

Final, and possibly most important for the long term, is what this situation has done to my perception of the university system in this state. This is not the first time such a crisis has hit the state and I seriously doubt it will be the last; they didn't learn the last times why would I expect it to be different this time. So, as a highly desirable university professor why should I stay in this state any longer than necessary? Do I really need to go through this kind of crap every 10 years? Why not move to a more stable state/country and teach there? So far, I can't come up with a good reason not to consider the option should it present itself, and when more and more good faculty member think this way is when the long term damage will become evident.