California Faculty Association: Stand with us, Toros
By CFA E-Board and Contract Team
Editor’s note: The printed version of this letter on Oct. 7, 2026, contained unedited draft text. The piece has been updated to reflect the author’s final submitted version.
We are the California Faculty Association (CFA) e-board and contract action team members at CSUDH. CFA is the union of professors, librarians, counselors and coaches across California State University.
We are currently engaged in negotiations over our contract, which defines our rights and duties as CSU faculty members. And as professors, we want to do what we do best: share knowledge.
This year, our union has been struggling with CSU administrators in the bargaining process to ensure that we get:
- Salaries that automatically adjust each year to keep up with inflation and the rising cost of living in California;
- Reasonable limits on class sizes and workload so we can give you the individual attention and support you deserve;
- Job security so part-time lecturer faculty can advance to full-time, permanent positions—because one job should be enough to live on;
- Protections against bringing AI into CSU to displace human teachers or surveil teachers and students;
- Academic freedom protections so we can speak the truth without fear of politicized attacks; and
- More counselors so students don’t have to wait to seek mental health help.
Inflation has gone up over 7% since our last raise two years ago. We’ve all seen the rising costs of gas, food, and housing, but the CSU Chancellor—whose annual salary tops $1 million, including a $96,000 housing allowance—has offered us only a 3% raise over three years. What that really means for us is a 4% pay cut to our purchasing power.
We fight very hard to offer the best possible education to our students. We mentor you, we advise your clubs, we take courses that make us better professors, and we apply for grants to support your research—among many other duties outside the classroom. When management asks us to raise the number of students in our classes, we advocate against it so that you can keep the lower student-to-faculty ratio that has been promised to you, which makes for a better educational experience.
The majority of your professors are lecturers. This means that most of us get paid per class and can have our classes cut on short notice. What students may not realize, is that many of us teach on multiple campuses to make ends meet.
If you see us raising our voice in support of this bargaining, it’s for us and our families, but also for you and our community. We hope that we won’t have to strike, and that management accepts our reasonable requests.
But if that is not the case, then we might have to go on strike.
If and when that happens, we ask for your support to have a workplace that treats us respectfully, equitably, and values the intentionality and love we put into our profession and your education.
You will be told that there will be negative consequences for you, that you will need to report your professors who strike. Knowing what we shared here—and what we hope to continue sharing with you—do you think that is not a form of intimidation?
So if you see us around campus wearing our red CFA shirts or tabling outside Loker Student Union, stop by to say hello, grab a snack and a flyer.
Let’s stand together in solidarity—students and faculty—to fight for a better CSU!
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