San Francisco State University

Robert Corrigan

The president of San Francisco State University said Monday that Gov. Jerry Brown "doesn’t seem to appreciate high-quality education in California.”

In a telephone interview shortly after announcing his retirement, SFSU President Robert Corrigan accused Brown of not doing enough to protect higher education from deep budget cuts.  

Corrigan, 76, is retiring at the end of the school year after nearly 24 years as the university’s president. He said the state's budget crisis will take years to resolve.

“I think we are looking at a five-year [budget] problem in California,” Corrigan said in a telephone interview. “At my age, I am not likely to be around for five years." Corrigan plans to return to his research in American history after retiring. "The next president needs to deal with the Legislature and the governor as best that they can,” he said.

SFSU is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system that has absorbed deep budget cuts over the last several years. In the last three years alone, state cuts of $84.9 million have forced SF State to raise tuition six times, increase class sizes and merge eight academic colleges into six.

Corrigan said he worries that the middle class is being priced out of universities like SFSU. The university had 29,718 students in the 2010-11 school year.

“What is coming back to us is that the governor doesn’t seem to appreciate high-quality education in California,” Corrigan said. “My concern is that there is no appreciation of the important role that higher education plays in this community, that it makes them more productive, what it does for the population as a whole. We are losing out on good faculty coming in.”

"It’s not clear why Mr. Corrigan would make such a misguided and inaccurate statement," Gil Duran, the governor's press secretary, wrote in an email. "His frustration would be better directed at the Republicans who denied the people a right to vote on Governor Brown’s balanced budget plan, which would have averted deeper cuts to the university."

While SFSU's enrollment has grown, the university expects to receive about $111 million from the state this year -- roughly the same amount it received in the 1997-98 school year, Corrigan said.

Corrigan earns about $298,000 annually, plus a $1,000 monthly car allowance and an annual housing allowance of $60,000. Corrigan said he will work through the school year, but has not set a departure date.

The CSU Chancellor’s Office will oversee a search for Corrigan’s replacement in the coming months.

During his tenure, Corrigan has been credited with building a better rapport between administration and faculty. He has also overseen a major overhaul of the campus, funded with a $120 million facilities bond measure, student fees and private fundraising. In March, the university will open its renovated library. And in the next few years, the university plans to build a new performing arts center and a student wellness facility.

“Overall, he has been a very well-respected colleague and administrator of this campus,” said Wei Ming Dariotis, assistant professor of Asian American Studies and president of the California Faculty Association SF State chapter, which represents roughly 800 faculty at SFSU. “He helped keep our campus from collapsing under the weight of budget cuts through careful management of our funds.”

But some students said Corrigan should have done more to protect them.

“I don’t think he has the students’ interests in mind as much as he should,” said Sheikh Njie, a biochemistry major who is in his senior year. “They’ve increased tuition every semester since I’ve been here. I’m disappointed because they are cutting down classes and it’s difficult to get into ones that you need to graduate.”