The California State University system is currently looking at the prevalence of lecturer salary misclassification across the system, wrote CSU spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp in an email to The Orion.

These misclassifications occur when a lecturer is placed at a pay grade inconsistent with their education or previous work experience, according to a Chico State faculty union report.

The CSU’s current plan to address the issue is through the collective bargaining process with the California Faculty Association, a system-wide faculty union, when it recommences in the spring, Uhlenkamp wrote. Because of the “dynamic” nature of the negotiation process, there is no set date for when a resolution will be reached.

At an Academic Senate meeting on Dec. 12, Chico State President Paul Zingg urged system administrators to go into the collective bargaining negotiations acknowledging the issue.

“We’ll be holding the Long Beach people’s feet to the fire to make sure they follow through,” Zingg said.

While the union has collected data to indicate that lecturer pay misclassification is a system-wide issue, Chico State faces its own problems, said Vincent Ornelas, Chico State’s California Faculty Association chapter president.

The university’s faculty union chapter requested that an audit of the campus’ lecturer pay scales be conducted in October, as previously reported by The Orion. A report included with the request indicated that the proportion of Chico State lecturers classified in the lowest two salary ranges is 17 percent higher than the system-wide average.

“Here it’s especially noticeable given the size of the campus,” Ornelas said.

The faculty union is collecting data from department chairs and lecturers to share with the administration, he said.

Nicholas Carr can be reached at [email protected] or @nikecarr on Twitter.