Prof. Catherine Nelson, the inimitable vice-chair of the statewide senate has compiled the following brief summary of the highlights of the Jan\/Feb 2017 Board of Trustees for statewide senators. I’m thus happy to share this with you:<\/p>\n
A few highlights of the Trustees meeting.\u00a0 Underlying themes included the Graduation Initiative and integral to it hiring more faculty, hiring more advisors and providing more classes so students graduate in a timely manner; and student opposition to the \u201cTuition Adjustment Proposal\u201d (as one student said, \u201ccall it what it is, an increase\u201d). The full Trustees Agenda is available at:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www2.calstate.edu\/csu-system\/board-of-trustees\/Pages\/agenda.aspx<\/a>
\nTuesday, 1\/31\/17<\/strong><\/p>\nCommittee on Collective Bargaining<\/strong><\/p>\n
In the public comment section several union representatives spoke about compensation, the need to value duration of service for the institutional memory it provides, career advancement, and the need for a systemwide policy about the time, place and manner of expression that protects union activity and provides for an appeal process for administrative decisions made under the policy.\u00a0 Successor CBAs with units 2, 5, 7 and 9 were approved (CSUEU, SEIU Local 2579).<\/p>\n
Committee on Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n
There was extensive discussion of the CSU 2017-18 support budget request and the \u201ctuition adjustment proposal.\u201d The CSU Administration reported that the governor\u2019s budget proposes a recurring augmentation of $157.2 m of state general fund monies.\u00a0 That amount is $167.7 less than the trustees\u2019 support budget request of $324.9m.\u00a0 The governor also proposed phasing out the Middle Class Scholarship Program (http:\/\/www.csac.ca.gov\/mcs.asp<\/a>).\u00a0 Given that the Department of Finance has not forecast an economic downturn, the Administration suggested it is reasonable to argue that the additional reserve funds Governor Brown wants can go to other purposes.\u00a0 Board discussion included whether financial aid would cover the increase and for whom, the need to fund mandatory costs and the Graduation Initiative, the fact that even with the tuition increase funding for the CSU would still fall $90.2m short of the full support budget request, and the possibility that if the Trustees approve the increase in March, they could revise it during the summer if more funding is forthcoming from the state.<\/p>\n
During the committee\u2019s public comment period, students spoke movingly about the need for sanctuary campuses and talked about the direct, negative impact the tuition increase would have on them.\u00a0 Themes included educational costs, working two or more jobs, student homelessness and food insecurity, and the state legislature\u2019s responsibility to fund public higher education.\u00a0 Jen Eagan, CFA President, introduced the CFA\u2019s report \u201cEquity, Interrupted:\u00a0 How California is Cheating It\u2019s Future<\/em>\u201d that documents the state\u2019s disinvestment in higher education (report available at http:\/\/www.calfac.org\/sites\/main\/files\/file-attachments\/equity_interrupted_1.12.2017.pdf<\/a> ). In particular the authors find that as the number of students of color has increased, public funding for the CSU has decreased. During Board discussion of the increase, Trustees Morales, White, Abrego and Norton expressed varying degrees of opposition, concern or ambivalence about the increase.<\/p>\n