Most important is your misconception about the issue of merit pay. As a faculty member at HSU for over 25 years I can assure you, and the public, that the faculty agree with the concept of merit pay. The CSU administration wants to replace that system, with its continuous evaluation of faculty by their peers, the administration and the students, with a system based on presidential preference. The so-called merit pay plan would leave out the students, grant the faculty a token role, and delegate all decisions to administrators, the people who know and care the least about what goes on in the classroom. Their excuse is a corporate model of incentives, outmoded even in industry, and certainly not at all suited to an educational community of teachers and learners based on respect, collegiality, and shared governance.
Academic freedom is at the heart of our educational system.
You can be sure that if I were a younger faculty member, making much less money, I would think twice about writing this letter. I would know the consequences.