Suzanne Pullen has $120,000 in student loan debt. At 53, she has not been a student for some time, but is, at last, using her hard-won doctoral degree. She’s a lecturer in communication studies at San Francisco State University, where she watches her students amass debt, as she did before them.
Pullen was one of more than 150 faculty and students who rallied at San Francisco State University on Thursday, demanding a contract for faculty members, who are in the midst of a week-long, statewide vote on whether to strike.
“I have a Ph.D, I’m working as a lecture faculty, and I’ve chosen to stay at this campus, but it’s trading in a future of debt and no way out,” said Pullen, who has been a faculty member at S.F. State since 2015. She said faculty at the school, like herself, cannot afford to think about home ownership or building up a nest egg, much less “extravagant trips” or “future investment.”
“I’m just thinking about how I pay rent, and how I pay my bills,” she said.
“It’s very demoralizing,” added Brad Erickson, a full-time lecturer at the School of Liberal Studies and the president of the university’s faculty union chapter. Erickson said he was lucky to stave off student debt as a graduate but, with a daughter now in college, was forced to borrow to support her. “Now I’m going into debt, when everyone is telling me to build up for retirement.”
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The California Faculty Association, which represents 29,000 workers at California state schools, including some 1,060 at San Francisco State University, has asked its members to authorize a strike. This comes after what the union characterizes as failed negotiations with the administration of the state school system.
The vote, which kicked off on Saturday and will last through Friday, would not guarantee a strike, but a “yes” vote would authorize the union to call a strike if negotiations break down. The union is asking for 12 percent across-the-board raises, among other changes, saying the raise would barely keep up with inflation. Management has countered with 5 percent raises.
Faculty at the union are facing mass staffing cuts: In September, emails went out across the university informing S.F. State lecturers — who make up the bulk of the teaching staff and are usually part-timers — that many would see their classes cut in the spring.
The cuts would affect the equivalent of 125 full-time S.F. State positions, according to a budget presentation from the university. The faculty union said that, because most lecturers are part-time, some 300 would lose all of their classes, and another 600 would see some class cuts.
“I wouldn’t be able to pay rent, childcare,” said Jaimy Magdalena Mann, a lecturer in Race and Resistance Studies, who said she is not sure how many classes she will lose come the spring, but was hoping to have at least two sections — the minimum required to keep her healthcare. “I don’t have family who I could borrow money from, I have not started paying back my student loans … I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
San Francisco State University did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but a spokesperson last month said the cuts were a response to a changing student body: Enrollment at the school is down to its lowest total in a decade, and fewer San Franciscans are having children and sending them to state schools.
“To the extent that lecturer hiring will be impacted going forward, that will be driven by student enrollment and aligning the schedule of classes to meet demand,” Kent Bravo, a university spokesperson, said at the time.
On Thursday, those amassed in the campus quad said they struggled to survive in the Bay Area on a lecturer’s salary, and students standing alongside their teachers said they, too, could little afford the tuition hikes approved by the system’s board of trustees in September.
Chants of “Fight the hike!” and “Money for the schools, not the chancellor!” were directed from the crowd to a handful of administrative staff looking on nearby. At one point, the crowd chanted “Fuck the admins!” and a few middle fingers were thrust in the administrators’ general direction.
Those present said the mood on campus was tense and sober. Students said seeing their teachers struggle with rent and facing job cuts made some rethink the benefits of a higher education.
“It’s really disheartening, it feels disenfranchising,” said Violet Street, a 20-year-old junior in public health who led a march across campus on Thursday. Street comes from a family of teachers, many of whom have gone through the California State University system, like her. “We’re CSU legacy,” she said.
But she worried about her two younger sisters coming up behind her and entering the state system. And she worried about her own prospects of going to graduate school, given her lecturers’ struggles.
“If my professors who have two master’s are getting fired — what the fuck is that?” she added.
I’m with you Violet! Thanks for leading the charge!!! The Admins at your school are like CEOs at large companies making sure their pockets are lined with Gold and the little guy gets to do all the work for nothing! I am from a family of teachers too so it is important to me that they get compensated and that school is affordable for students. It should not be just for the elite to get a great education! A higher education was affordable when I was young and the schools were interested in educating not just $$$.
“I wouldn’t be able to pay rent, childcare,” said Jaimy Magdalena Mann, a lecturer in Race and Resistance Studies
— Who could ever have imagined that choosing this specialty wouldn’t lead to a life of wealth and security?