The Chancellors Office has ordered changes to general education which eviscerate ethnic studies, gender and women’s studies, queer studies, and others at CSUN.
In an attempt to standardize general education across the CSU and prevent students who transfer between campuses from having to take extra units, Loren Blanchard has mandated changes in how many units may be in each area of GE (and the distribution of units between upper and lower division). This will harm our students and have far reaching effects on our curriculum. One of the most egregious is that while CSUN has been unique in the CSU by requiring cultural studies as part of GE (part F) for ~12 years, that is no longer allowed.
I will use this space for further explanations and updates. There will likely be many. I expect that Executive Order 1100 will eat up all the time, energy, and goodwill that would’ve been devoted to the Graduation Initiative 2025.
For now, we have three tasks before us:
(1) Figuring out how to minimize the harm in implementing this travesty
(2) Fighting political battles to have the order reversed or revised.
(3) Ensuring that Chancellor Timothy White, Executive Vice Chancellor Loren Blanchard, and Strategist James T. Minor never escape the stain of the losses they have inflicted on the future students of CSUN, their communities, and their employers.
In service of (3), let me close by sharing the brief note I sent to Loren Blanchard last night.
To: Loren Blanchard, Executive Vice Chancellor
CC: Tim White, ChancellorDear Loren,
The revisions to EO 1100 eviscerate CSUN’s ethnic studies departments.
I leave it to my administrative colleagues to demonstrate this.
After working throughout the day to understand the implications and the options, I am embarrassed that I can contribute only what, through the shock, is, I suppose, a broken heart.
I will do my utmost to stanch the bleeding. But please know that my task is to find a way to preserve within an already crowded structure that which was won inch by inch.
Thank you,
Adam
—
Adam Swenson, Ph.D.
Faculty President
======
Update: I will try to keep track of what I hear from other campuses here: https://blogs.csun.edu/facultypresident/2017/08/25/executive-order-1100-not-just-us/
=======
Update [30 August]: It appears President Harrison and Provost Li have worked out an agreement with the Chancellor’s Office which remedies the horrible implications of EO1100 for the affected departments. https://blogs.csun.edu/facultypresident/2017/08/31/eo1100-update/