Isabel Arrizano
CFA Chapter President Dave Colnic (pictured right) checks his notes during the March 11th Senate meeting. (Signal File Photo)
In today’s Senate meeting, faculty continued expressing a number of grievances against the current CSU administration, although they lacked consensus around if a vote of no confidence should be called.
Frustrations came to the floor in the form of a statement from Graduate Council and a Sense of the Senate resolution condemning recent layoffs, a successful petition which arranged for a special meeting of the Senate before the end of the academic term on the topic of a vote of no confidence and a petition calling for Stan State’s budgetary problems to be resolved without firing a single union-represented worker.
Additionally, the Senate also voted to approve the first stages of rebuilding the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (FCETL), to restrict general education courses to only count in one GE area, a new Business Analytics concentration and a Master of Art in Teaching program.
Senate’s Doubts in CSU Leadership Continue as Consequences of Budget Cuts are Felt
In today’s session, Speaker of the Faculty Dana Nakano delivered an update on the future outlook of a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Mildred Garcia and the CSU Board of Trustees.
In his statement, he said that the open forums that have been held have shown widespread agreement that the current administration is not fit to lead the system, but there was a lack of consensus around if a vote of no confidence would be the proper course of action.
The short timeline between now and the end of the Spring term is making many faculty members doubt if there is time for a proper discussion around the issue, he says.
CFA Chapter President Dave Colnic shared some words during his committee report which echo the grim mood of the body.
“I want us all to think about what’s transpired this past several months with what I’ve termed ‘manufactured austerity,’” he said. “I want us to think of all of the colleagues who won’t be here next year. Our staff who won’t be here next year.”
Prior to today’s session, a petition was put forward by a number of Senators requesting a special session be held to discuss the possibility of a vote of no confidence. This petition has the signatures required for the body to move forward with scheduling this meeting, but quorum must still be met if they are to vote on any resolutions.
The date of the special meeting has yet to be decided, but they are planning on holding it before the academic term, Nakano says.
Graduate Council Chair Suzanne Whitehead also delivered a statement concerned about the manner in which Stan State’s administration proceeded with laying off faculty and staff.
“Employees involved experienced great distress,” the statement read, “And were given no notice as to their pending dismissals, once told, were given thirty minutes to leave and told to come back at a later date for their belongings, their computer access was shut down within thirty minutes, and they were not able to transfer vital files and information to their department chairs, coordinators, colleagues, and students.”
A Sense of the Senate resolution later moved forward and passed which called for the halting of all austerity measures until, as the resolution reads, “our campus community has a better understanding of the costs of these measures and an opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion about the trade-offs.”
Senator Dave Colnic claims that, according to a recent audit, the CSU system has around $6 billion in reserves which is unallocated, and around $2 billion which is spoken for. It is his position, and the CFA’s, that these reserves be used to ensure a quality education for the students the CSU is responsible for.
Two New Academic Programs, Move to Rebuild FCETL and Changes to GE Requirements Pass the Senate
The previous Senate session saw significant discussion over the rebuilding of FCETL and a change to GE requirements which would not allow for courses to be listed in multiple GE areas.
FCETL faced a crisis last year which saw its operations cease, and an ad hoc committee was formed to create a plan for how it should be rebuilt and restructured so that faculty development workshops can continue on a regular basis.
The resolution detailing the first steps of this process, which includes the hiring of a full-time staff member to work inside of the John Stuart Roger’s Faculty Development Center and an appointment of leadership to run workshops for faculty development on both the Turlock and Stockton campuses.
The changes to GE passed will require courses currently listed in two GE areas to change to only being listed in one, but a grace period of the Summer and Fall semesters has been given for these changes to take place.
The Graduate Council produced two resolutions which moved to approve a new Business Analytics concentration and a Master of Art in Teaching.
According to the resolution, the Business Analytics concentration will be couched within the Online Master of Business Administration (OMBA) program, which already offers the courses required for this pathway.
The Master of Art in Teaching’s aim, according to the resolution, is to “prepare prospective teaching candidates to develop the competencies to foster student learning and growth through effective methods of teaching coupled with critical reflection, action-oriented research, and data analysis skills.”
This program will also facilitate students’ achievement of teaching credentials in the state of California.
Both academic programs were approved by the Senate by a significant majority.