By Aadi Mehta, October 14, 2025
Fifty faculty members are seeing pay increases after reaching a settlement with university administrators.
Many of the faculty members worked with the California Faculty Association to file grievances, organize and bring the issue to the California Civil Rights Department, according to the Pomona Chapter President Bonnie Thorne.
“Through a combination of organizing, keeping the issue front-and-center with the administration, individual and group grievances, and helping faculty take the issue to the California Civil Rights Department, we were able to secure a settlement with the Cal Poly Pomona administration,” Thorne said.
In the contractual grievances, Faculty Rights Chairman Nicholas Von Glahn said faculty alleged Cal Poly Pomona violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement by failing to implement fair and consistent pay practices during promotions, while the statutory grievances made claims of inequity and possible discrimination. Group grievances cited complaints about unequal treatment across campus departments.
According to Thorne, most faculty members promoted during the 2024-2025 academic year received significantly smaller raises than colleagues who received raises in the previous five years, something the university administration claims was due to budget concerns.
“We were told, matter-of-factly, there was no equity program, and that they were just doing what they could with whatever money was in the budget, and we were not happy about that,” Von Glahn said.
Von Glahn does not believe the university’s claim the settlement resulted from an improved budget. Instead, he said the administration was inconsistent in its denial of such a program until after faculty filed grievances.
According to Von Glahn, the university’s messaging about the equity program changed over time, and the administrative turnover may be a reason why faculty received conflicting information.
The Poly Post contacted Cheryl Koos, the associate vice president of Faculty Affairs, for an interview Oct. 3, but she declined to comment, citing “personnel” conflicts.
In her email announcement about the settlement Sept. 29, Thorne said while she applauds the CPP Faculty Affairs Office for working with the Pomona union to reach the settlement, she also rejects the Faculty Affairs Office’s claim the settlement was made possible only because of an improved budget.
“CFA maintains that the settlement was a result of the bravery of those who filed grievances, took their cases to the state and otherwise acted collectively,” Thorne said.
The CFA Pomona chapter hopes the pay equity settlement will help demonstrate the effectiveness of collective action and advocacy, as Thorne said in her message to faculty, “faculty are stronger together.”
According to Von Glahn, many faculty members signed a promise not to discuss issues related to this matter. For this reason, other affected faculty were not available for comment.
Feature image courtesy of Adriana Hernandez
