During today’s Academic Senate, tensions were high due to the discussion surrounding open communication, spreading of rumors and overall bad morale across Stan State staff.
The meeting started off smoothly with the committee reports. New information was presented, as well as some updates on past items brought to the attention of the senate.
President Britt Rios-Ellis shared how Stan State’s Men’s and Women’s soccer teams both made the playoffs, and that the potential Tracy campus has started to pick up some traction in the press.
Committee reports took a sharp turn when the California Faculty Association report was given by CFA President Dave Colnic. Colnic shared some good news regarding CFA, but then moved on to discuss what he described as, “less good news.”
“Over the last six months, or year, not counting, I’ve been receiving more inquiries from colleagues about bad morale,” he said.
Colnic also brought to the floor a rumor that he heard regarding Stan State potentially eliminating the arts department.
“Yesterday, I heard, don’t know if it’s true, but part of the reorganization potentially is the elimination of our arts program,” Colnic said. “It may not be true, but I heard it nonetheless. If I’m hearing it, others are hearing it.”
Due to the response regarding this rumor, Speaker Arya Alami called the senate to order and continued with the scheduled agenda for the meeting.
“Order, I’d like to keep moving forward,” Alami said and suggested that a separate meeting occur to discuss this topic further.
The issue was brought up again during open forum due to fear surrounding the rumor Colnic mentioned during his committee report.
This resulted in a heated conversation between Alami and Colnic, who were disagreeing about the importance of bringing up the rumor during the Academic Senate in the first place.
“I’m trying to contain my frustration,” Alami said.
“You have my personal number at any point you hear a rumor you can text me, call me. What I would appreciate is on this board we talk about substantive things, not rumors,” Alami said.
Colnic interrupts Alami causing them to speak over one another with Colnic saying, “That wasn’t the point.”
Alami responded, “I let you speak. My point is when you heard this rumor you could have easily texted me.”
Alami and Colnic continued to debate over the relevance and overall policy regarding introducing rumors to the senate floor.
“Let’s not spread the rumors because, you’re right, the rumors are killing us. Let’s stop it,” Alami said.
The conversation continued briefly, ultimately ending with them agreeing to disagree and moving on to different topics being presented by other senators.
“We’re not gonna agree,” Alami said.
“We’re not,” Colnic responded.
This has once again reminded the senate about their shared governance issue, which has been a continued topic of debate this semester.
The meeting ended with unanswered questions, high tension and a motion to adjourn early.
