Every Tuesday and Thursday, students in English lecturer David Gill’s ENG 216 course can expect him to start off the day by blasting one particular song down the Humanities Building hallways: “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols.

Gill, who has been at San Francisco State University for 17 years, uses this punk anthem to remind students about the injustice he and other faculty members are currently facing. 

As one of many lecturer faculty being “exited” due to campus-wide budget cuts, Gill’s chapter at SFSU is coming to an end after nearly two decades of service. 

“I’ve been moving through the stages of grief for the last month and I’ve been depressed and I’ve been angry, and I’ve tried to bargain my way out of it,” said Gill, who has earned two degrees and continued to advance his teaching career at the institution.

In response to his dismissal, Gill has opted to protest the decision by posting flyers on the walls of different buildings around campus that comment on SFSU President Lynn Mahoney’s salary.

“My goal is to open a dialogue and to have a discussion about the way the university is making these cuts at a time of financial hardship, and who is being asked to bear the brunt of those sacrifices, and who is not making any sacrifices at all,” Gill said. 

The flyers, which started appearing in early November, include a photo of Mahoney’s face with phrases such as “Downsized everything but her salary” and “SFSU President’s Pay 2015: $388K, SFSU President’s Pay 2024: $463K, California Governor’s Salary: $234K.” 

Despite Gill’s efforts to address these concerns, he is operating under a mindset of making the most of the time he has left at the university in propelling a movement that raises questions against the administration. 

“My basic feeling now is that I have nothing left to lose and I’m dealing with a kind of unethical behavior that is obvious on its face,” Gill said. “As a teacher, it’s my duty to get out there and show students how you fight injustice, by speaking up and by speaking truth to power.”

University administration has responded by removing the flyers from building walls in accordance with the recently updated Time, Place and Manner policy.  

Bobby King, SFSU’s director of communications, recognized the driving focus for the flyers is correlated to the school’s low enrollment and the aftereffects felt by lecturer faculty in particular. 

“Class schedules and lecturer faculty assignments have always been directly driven by enrollment and the decline in enrollment at SF State has been felt by lecturer faculty most acutely,” King said in an email statement to Golden Gate Xpress. “All CSU presidential salaries are determined by the CSU Board of Trustees and Office of the Chancellor and are not controlled at the campus level. They are typically driven by the median wage for presidents at comparable universities.” 

Brian Yan, a student organizer, has seen the flyers around campus and correlated them to student concerns about why their place of learning is facing downsizing to this sort of degree. 

However, as someone who has seen his own organization’s flyers taken down due to TPM, Yan does not see any justification for the same thing to happen in this case. 

“Universities are supposed to be havens of free speech,” Yan said. “And if we can’t have our flyers up then that, you know, time-honored tradition of free speech on college campuses is being hampered and we won’t stand for this continued violation of free speech on these campuses.” 

While the flyers have caught the eyes of students and faculty around campus, it has also garnered the attention of one notable figure: Mahoney herself.  

Mahoney has seen the flyers around campus advertising her salary and has acknowledged that it is “incredibly high and generous.” But, she reiterated that her salary is “set by the Chancellor’s office and is not controlled locally at all.” 

“I actually don’t have any control over whether I get a pay increase or a pay decrease – that happens at the system level,” Mahoney said. “I understand though, why, when you’re losing work or underpaid, that my salary is a needle in the eye.” 

Mahoney argues that focusing on that when making these objections ignores the root of the issue, which is the lack of funding from the state. 

“They could make my salary zero,” Mahoney said. “It’s not going to do much. We’re expecting a $45 million cut. My salary doesn’t even cover the cost of reducing the stamp budget on campus and we don’t even use many stamps anymore.”  

Gill said he is open to talking to Mahoney and hopes to have specific questions answered about the decisions impacting faculty and the school. 

“I’d love to find out why faculty are being asked to make all the sacrifices and the admin are making none,” Gill said. “We’d love to see your budget and know how you’re making these choices financially.”

According to an email he sent to all Liberal College of Arts faculty last Tuesday, “action [will be taken] against the mismanagement at SFSU in the final two weeks of the semester.” 

On Dec. 2 and 3, the English department will host a 2-day support event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in HUM 481 and HUM 485. Interactive roundtable discussions will be led by faculty members, which will focus on strategies and support for coping with the massive job losses on campus.

Additionally, a funeral procession will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at noon to “mourn the loss of teachers, programs and resources in the face of administrative management,” according to a flyer from Gill’s email. 

Gill sees what he is facing as part of a larger, systemic problem that’s been going on for a long time.  

“Teachers know how to teach and administrators need to get out of the way and let us do that,” he said.