Some students have had to resort to counting change when making purchases due to lack of income, leaving them to use every bit of money they have. Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

The roller coaster economy has been hard on college students who must make ends meet while dealing with the loss of jobs and rising cost of tuition.

Ashley Rueckert, 21, a child and adolescent development major, said she is majoring in a subject where the job market is scarce and things look bleak right now.

She currently works as an after school teacher, but her job seems to become more unstable by the day. She is following her dream of becoming a teacher, but the outlook is far from good.

“Since the economy is not doing well, my hours are being continually cut,” Rueckert said. “My hours have already been cut twice in the past three weeks.”

Rueckert’s mother is currently unemployed and has been on unemployment for the past two years.

Unfortunately for the Rueckert family, the clock is ticking.

“(My mom) is a single parent so unfortunately money is very tight in my house because we basically have no money,” Rueckert said. “(She) has about one more month on unemployment before they cut her off. Honestly, if she loses unemployment there is a very good chance we will lose everything because my paycheck doesn’t cover much.”

“I pay for school completely through grants. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t be in school right now,” Ruecker added.

Karissa Giacone, 20, a business marketing major at Cal State Long Beach, works as a part-time hair stylist at Platinum Strands in Orange. She has also experienced a loss of income due to the economy.

“There used to be a lot more walk-ins,” Giacone said. “Clients are cutting back on services, they are getting the less expensive services, and they are waiting longer periods of time between appointments.”

Giacone’s new strategy is to advertise better. She is getting door hangers and banners and is going to advertise on Craigslist.org.

She is living at her grandparents’ house with her parents and her younger brother and sister. She lives in a house built for three people with double the amount of people living there.

“There is nothing you can do, there is nowhere to go,” Giacone said when she was asked about privacy issues.

Giacone’s mother runs her own graphic design business and works on logos for businesses but her father is currently unemployed and has been for about a year and a half. He was the owner of a closet organizing business that failed with the housing market crash.

“I am doing decently. It’s not enough for the family. My parents don’t have any money,” Giacone said.

The Giacone family tries to stay positive about their financial situation.

“I get financial aid for school, and my mom’s business is picking up,” Giacone said.

Derek Fett, 21, has an associates degree from Santa Ana Community College and is currently enrolled in Orange Coast College in the culinary arts program. He has seriously thought about going to a Cal State University but heard about the difficulty students face getting classes and the increase in tuition and decided against it.

Fett is currently unemployed and has been for about a year and a half. He was laid off from his family’s roofing company due to cutbacks from a lack of business.

“We did government work for schools and stuff, and since the schools’ financial situations are bad we didn’t get any work,” Fett said.

The roofing business, which is owned by his grandfather and run by his father, has tried to stay afloat by cutting workers and cutting the owners’ salaries.

Fett’s father’s salary has been cut and the once upper-middle class family is now slowly creeping towards the lower-middle class.

“We’re not poor, we’re fine,” he said. “We have money saved up, but it has been going down quickly.”

Fett is planning on working for the roofing company again this summer as the economy seems to be slowly treading back up.

Still, the major blow to the middle class families will take a long time to recover.

President Gordon addresses student concerns at Pizza with the Presidents March 18. Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

Students concerned with budget cuts and policy changes within the Cal State University system voiced their opinions at the Pizza with the Presidents open forum at the Becker Amphitheatre held March 18.

Panelists included: President Milton A. Gordon, Associate Vice President of Financial Services Brian Jenkins, Vice President for Student Affairs Robert Palmer, Vice President for University Advancement Pamela Hillman, CSU Vice Chancellor Emeritus Jack Smart, Associated Students Inc. (ASI) President Juli Santos and ASI Vice President Joseph Lopez.

President Gordon said that enrollment must be reduced by 40,000 students within the 23 campuses over the next two years because “that is the amount of students that the state of California is not paying for.”

The CSU has taken a budget cut of almost $600 million this year, where Cal State Fullerton’s share was cut by nearly $40 million, Jenkins said.

“We are going into the next fiscal year with a completely balanced budget. We don’t have any structural deficit, unlike our sister campuses,” Jenkins said.

Many students asked about statements made in the “Strategic Planning Summary” that was released March 9.

Rodrigo Calderon, a representative for the College of the Arts, spoke on behalf of the students about their worry and concern about the potential budget cuts within their departments.

“I hear it all the time. I hear it from my constituents. They don’t like being referred to as ‘esoteric.’ They don’t like that their majors are being called, ‘merely desirable,’ ” Calderon said.

President Gordon offered reassurance by stating that everyone supports the arts, and it is always our theater season that is the leading community draw for the CSUF campus.

“I think it (Strategic Planning Summary) was there to provoke discussion. We’re not going to lose them (arts, liberal arts) just because we’re in this temporary budget situation,” Hillman said.

Jackie Bebawi, history major, demanded that the administration value education and the meaning of education for students. She said that she did not appreciate being listed as, “clients, consumers and human capital,” in the document.

“I think we were waiting for someone to do something and no one did anything and finally, it went too far. We had to speak up for the re-humanization of society and the university,” Bebawi added.

According to Hillman, the Strategic Planning Summary was a product of a strategic planning group that included many people from areas on and off campus that did not necessarily represent a particular constituency.

“(It) is inclusive of all opinions. So take all that information and act on it in a collective way, rather than on an individual statement,” Hillman added.

The key issue is that California has forgotten to re-invest in higher education, which forces colleges to put caps on enrollment, Santos said.

“This is a call for all of us that we need to have one united message in re-investing in higher education … As long as people are on board with working together … once we do that, I think we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Santos said.

Melyssa Dela Cruz, psychology major, said that she wanted everyone to work together and focus on the same goals.

“I know that working with everyone on campus is more effective than working alone. Personally, I know that we need to openly communicate and unite under one idea,” Cruz said.

ASI Chief Communications Officer Andrew Lopez said that everyone attended the forum to voice their concerns.

“From what I understand, we are the only campus that does that. If we do not address problems then nothing will happen,” Lopez added.

Palmer suggested that students find ways to communicate and collaborate in order to continue dialogue.

“We’ll be looking at ways in which we can facilitate a formal structure and the grass root movement that evidently, is a part of a culture that’s growing here,” Palmer said.

Students protesting outside of the Humanities building around noon, March 4. Photo by Serena Whitecotton/Daily Titan Staff Writer

Today, Cal State University students and faculty from the 23 campuses all around the state will protest the fee increases, budget cuts and furloughs, joined by others from more than 100 different schools representing education ranging from K-12 to doctorate programs. The statewide Day of Action will “Mobilize for Education” and will also be extended to 17 other states, all of which will have their own demonstrations.

Cal State Fullerton will have its own protests, as well as taking part in a larger one in Los Angeles.

The California Faculty Association will have a bus leaving from CSUF in front of Langsdorf Hall at 2 p.m. Reservations are encouraged to get on the bus, but seating is otherwise first-come, first-serve. The bus will unload at Pershing Square, at 5th Street and Hill Street, in downtown Los Angeles, where the CSUF participants will connect with the Southern California Public Education Coalition, according to the CFA’s Web site.

Other schools joining the rally include Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Pomona and LA City College.

According to DefendEducation.org, the protesters will rally at Pershing Square at 3 p.m., thereupon they will march toward Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office at 4 p.m.

Around 5 p.m., the group is expected to convene in front of the governor’s office at 300 Spring Street.

Back at CSUF, a rally will be held at noon in front of the Humanities building, with a dance at 9 p.m.

Photo by Patiana Pedroza/For the Daily Titan

Before the March 4 protest takes place, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A.) wants to educate the campus community about the issues behind the budget cuts.

The March 4 protest was put together by the California Faculty Association (CFA), with the goal of raising awareness about the current crisis in public education and the lack of funding to not only colleges and universities, but elementary and high schools as well.

“We want people to be ready for March and be informed and not just walk there because they think it’s the cool thing to do,” said M.E.Ch.A. member Veronica Herrera.

M.E.Ch.A. members, along with other students, will gather in front of Humanities March 3 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. handing out pamphlets with facts about the effects of the budget cuts. Students will also be holding posters with quotes about how the budget cuts have personally affected them.

Because of Gov. Schwarzenneger’s budget cuts for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal year, Cal State Universities have been placed $283 million below their operational needs, meaning that CSUs across the country to do not have the necessary resources to provide for or meet the needs of students. Because of this, incoming student enrollment was cut by 10,000.

M.E.Ch.A. is not only concerned about how the budgets cuts are affecting current college students but about how they will affect high school students and eligible first-time freshman.

“California broke its promise,” Herrera said. “They said that if we wanted to go to college, people would be able to. So what do you do when you’re pushing people out and not letting freshman in? You’re denying them access to what you said was able.”

Though Schwarzenegger proposed to restore $305 million to the CSU 2010-11 budget, as well as provide an additional $60.6 million for enrollment growth, Herrera is concerned that high schools will not receive enough funding.

Herrera said that college students shouldn’t dismiss the importance of first-time freshman being denied admittance in to a CSU or UC, because it not only affects freshmen but the education system as a whole.

Funding for K-12 and community colleges was reduced by $1.5 billion, according to the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities.

“It doesn’t matter restoring the money to us if K-12 are cut, because then people aren’t going to be able to make it here regardless,” Herrera said.

Herrera is also discontented with the way the issue is being handled. Herrera said that she feels as though students and their education are being treated like a business. Students are paying more and getting less – less classes to choose from and less class time due to furloughs.

“I’ve had professors tell me ‘I feel sorry for you. I made it less hard this semester for you’ and it makes me angry. I didn’t pay more so that they could teach me less,” Herrera said.

Herrera said that since students are being asked to pay more for tuition and professors are being asked to take furloughs and get a 10 percent salary deduction, Chancellor Reed should also do the same. Chancellor Reed earns $362,500, receives housing and a $12,000 car allowance, according to the CFA Web site.

“You’re (Chancellor Reed) asking our professors and our administration to take pay cuts and telling them they can’t come to work, but yet you yourself are saying you’re not going to sacrifice anything?” Herrera said.

Herrera made it a point to say that students don’t realize how much power they have when they pay tuition. She said that students should demand to get what they pay for just like they would demand to get something they paid for at a store.

M.E.Ch.A member Jesus Herrera Rivera said students have to take charge in order to make a difference. Students can join M.E.Ch.A. and bring their own posters to demonstrate how the budget cuts have affected them.

“Facts are facts; they’re numbers. But when the numbers are attached to a face and a voice, that’s when people are going to care,” Herrera said.

“We have to show people that we care and that we won’t sit idly by,” said M.E.Ch.A member Andy Olea.

Nicole Anderson. Photo courtesy of sacstatenews.csus.edu

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of Nicole Anderson, a 20-year-old Cal State Sacramento student, as the new student representative to the CSU Board of Trustees on Feb. 10. The Board of Trustees, which is comprised of 25 members, accepts two students to serve two-year terms as representatives of their fellow CSU students, on the recommendation of the California State Student Association and the appointment of the Governor. The latest student to hold this position was Cal State Fullerton alumna Curtis Schlaufman, who resigned in order to pursue other career goals.

Each year, the California State Student Association (CSSA) conducts a search for potential representatives to the CSU Board of Trustees. According to the CSSA website, the student representative position is, “the most prestigious leadership position a CSU student may hold.” Student representatives participate in campus visits and seven scheduled meetings with the Board of Trustees per year and are an active part of the CSU policy-making body.

“It’s very important to have student input on wide-ranging policies,” said CSU specialist for Media Relations Eric Fallis. With the new appointment of Nicole Anderson, students now have an active voice in decisions made by the CSU Board of Trustees, which builds policy for the entire CSU system. However, this means that the newest face advocating for CSUF is not a student at this university.

“It would have been nice to have a CSUF student as our student representative,” Jose Lopez said, a senior Radio-TV-Film major. “We need representatives for our school to fight for what’s in our best interests as well as the whole Cal State system.”

Applicants for the Board of Trustees student representative position undergo interviews with CSSA to determine who will be nominated for the position. Three to five nominees are then presented to the Governor, who selects the final applicant for the job. This rigorous process works to determine who will be the best possible student for this time-consuming position within the CSU system. The qualifications for the job include maintaining a minimum 2.0 GPA, a junior-class standing and the ability to travel extensively throughout California.

While students are encouraged to apply for this position, many are unaware of the daily duties that student representatives encounter. ASI President Juliana Santos describes the position as “a big responsibility,” with student trustees using the first year of their appointment in order to learn all of the duties required of them. “The first term, student trustees generally just watch and learn,” Santos said. “Both student trustees sit in on all of the board meetings, but only one student trustee votes on the issues at hand.” This means that much of Nicole Anderson’s first term in office will be spent taking in all of the information, with her ability to act decisively for students on hold until she masters the job.

The student trustee position is one of the highest integrity, with representatives taking on a large workload. Without student representatives, the Board of Trustees is just another member of the CSU legislature. Now that Nicole Anderson has been appointed, students will have yet another outlet for their opinions within their universities by holding their representatives accountable for decisions made within the CSU system on their behalf.

Courtesy of www.CalState.edu

The California State University has launched a blog that invites students, faculty, alumni, employees and friends of the system to share their CSU experiences.

The blog, called “CSU Voices and Views”, was developed to provide a forum to tell stories of educational quality, student access, and environmental sustainability from different points of view.

Erik Fallis, CSU media relations specialist, and the public affairs team have been working with others to develop an online blog for the CSU system since last year, and the idea finally materialized at the beginning of this month.

“There are opportunities on individual campuses to share stories, but it has been difficult to tell them to the system as a whole,” Fallis said.

Because the blog is meant to be accessible to everyone that is in any way involved with the CSU, Fallis said he hopes it will serve as a way for all different components of the university to come together.

“We hope that there will be students, faculty members, employees or alumni who will think of a story and share it with us. They will be the ones who will drive the ideas,” Fallis said.

“CSU Voices and Views” is not the only online platform used by the public affairs team to encourage communication. They also use social networking sites, such as Twitter and a Facebook, to keep students updated on things going on throughout the university system.

Leslie Perry, 20-year-old health science major, said that she also saw the blog as a good way for communication to be established between groups of people involved in the CSU.

“I think it might be a good idea because professors will get a better understanding of students and students will get a better understanding of professors,” said Perry.

But the blog is not just aimed at students and professors, it welcomes anyone.

Elisha Castro, 21, history major, said she thinks that the existence of “Voices and Views” will be beneficial to the CSU system because she has heard that other schools that have blogs and Web platforms function effectively.

“I think it’s a good idea to get on the Web more and to also include more people who are part of the system so that younger people see how it is to go to CSUs,” Castro said.

Aside from submitting entries, viewers and visitors of the blog are encouraged to leave comments. In this way, a space for dialogue and discussion is created.

Castro says that although she has a personal blog, she does not think she will submit her own entries to CSU Voices and Views. However, she said that she thinks she will leave comments and engage in discussions if she finds that the content of the entries is appealing.

Anyone interested in talking about their experiences with the university is able to submit a blog entry. Public affairs will work with them so they can develop their story or if they need any resources.

“We’re looking for people who have a first-hand account of what the CSU system is doing for them,” Fallis said.

Banners posted throughout CSUF's campus advertise the statewide rally against budget cuts to be held on March 4. Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

Students and faculty from Cal State Fullerton and over 100 different schools, unions and organizations will meet at Los Angeles’ Pershing Square March 4 to march to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office for a rally to protest budget cuts, which continue to affect California’s public education system.

The march is sponsored by the Southern California Public Education Coalition and will include participants from all 23 Cal State University campuses.

The march is just one of many statewide “Mobilization for Education” planned events that will occur on the same day at or around all 23 CSU campuses, according to the California Faculty Association (CFA). Other planned events include sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations.

In addition to the events planned for California on March 4, groups from 17 other states will be holding demonstrations, including New York, Alabama and Michigan.

This is the first time that members representing all areas of public education will unite to demonstrate against the state-wide budget cuts. Participants will include students and educators from K-12 schools, community colleges, UCs and CSUs.

Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

Tatiana Pedroza, a senior sociology and women’s studies major, said that students and faculty who are not traveling to Pershing Square, but still want to discuss the budget cuts and other issues affecting CSUF, will gather for an informal meeting on campus at the central quad. Pedroza has been involved in protesting the budget cuts in the past.

“I really believe in our education system and really feel like it has taken a big hit recently,” Pedroza said.

According to the CFA, student fees at CSUs have tripled since 2002, and among all of the states, California is 47th in public spending per student. The governor proposed $300 million each for the UC and CSU systems in his most recent state budget proposal but CFA feels that is still not enough, considering that the CSU has lost $1 billion in funding over the past two years.

Alice Sunshine, CFA’s communications director, said that over 800 students and faculty from across California met at University of California, Berkley last fall to determine a day for all segments of public education to actively protest what they feel has been an attack on the public education system.

“Students who are eligible are being turned away from college. At CSU, they have increased costs and limited the number of classes,” Sunshine said.

Sunshine said that March 4 was chosen because public schools of all levels are in session that day and also because they wanted the protest to take place before the governor’s budget revision, which occurs on May 15.

Chuck Marchese, the CFA representative who is helping organize CSUF’s involvement, said that while students and faculty can travel to Pershing Square on their own, they also have the option to reserve a seat on a bus that CFA has rented. The bus can hold 55 people. Marchese said that seats that are not reserved will be filled on a first-come first-serve basis. The bus will be leaving from in front of Langsdorf Hall at 2 p.m.

Youth minister Kenneth Curry preparing for Super Sunday. Photo by Wayne Huang/For the Daily Titan

While football fans tuned in to Super Bowl XLIV, the Cal State University system kicked off its own Super Sunday, a month-long drive to encourage early college preparation among African American youth and their families.

Each Sunday in February, CSU representatives, including the chancellor, trustees and campus presidents, will speak to 100 African American congregations in close to 40 cities statewide, stressing the importance of planning for college admission as early as middle school.

Now in its fifth year, Super Sunday is part of the CSU African American Initiative, a joint effort between community, business and education leaders to educate families about the value of a college degree.

CSU Chancellor’s Department officials said the initiative has contributed to a 78 percent increase in African American students applying for freshman admission to CSU campuses, and a 20 percent increase in African American undergraduate enrollment between fall 2004 and fall 2008.

Cal State Fullerton will participate in Super Sunday on Feb. 28, when CSUF President Milton Gordon speaks at Love and Unity Church of God in Christ in Compton. On the same Sunday, Vice President of Student Affairs Robert Palmer will speak at Corona Community Church.

“We want to make sure parents and community members are prepared to help young people be ready for the rigors of higher education,” Palmer said. “It has to begin early. Literacy and math are key.”

Palmer added that that one of his goals is to increase the presence of African Americans on campus “to better represent the pluralism of our state.” African American enrollment at CSUF has increased significantly since 2004, even in the face of declining enrollments, Palmer noted.

“We have to give some credit to Super Sunday, but we have been very assertive in a variety of manners,” Palmer said.

CSU officials hope the program, which coincides with Black History Month, will reach 100,000 families this year.

“We want to show students that college is achievable academically and financially, and the life-long benefits of the degree,” CSU spokesperson Erik Fallis said.

He added that the system-wide budget cuts at CSU make the Super Sunday message even more important, as students need to be academically prepared to compete for admission at the 23 CSU campuses.

“By the time students reach high school, they should have many of the math and language skills in place to take the challenging courses that are required to attend a four-year university,” Fallis said. “The earlier students begin to focus on essential subjects, like algebra, the better.”

This year, the CSU system added 30 churches to its Super Sunday lineup, including churches in Santa Ana and Yorba Linda.

First-time participant Friendship Baptist Church in Yorba Linda will hold Super Sunday activities on Feb. 28 at both morning services. Friendship has a congregation of more than 3,000, making it the largest African American church in Orange County.

Church administrators hope Super Sunday will help solidify programs currently in place, including academic scholarships and a Saturday academy.

Youth Minister Kenneth Curry said nearly 75 percent of Friendship’s high school graduates go on to 2-year or 4-year colleges.

“Starting early is very important,” Curry said. “We not only do scholarship programs with our middle and high schoolers, but we also start with our kindergartners. Even if they don’t do so well (academically) they get the support and encouragement of a mentor. We have a wonderful, committed group of men and women. Education is … important to us as a church.”

Following the Super Sunday services, CSU outreach staff and church education counselors will provide information to families about steps to college and financial aid along with information about CSU Mentor, a Web site that guides families through the admission process.

Daily Titan Staff Writer

Don Gwerth, Ph.D. Photo courtesy of Don Gerth

“I have been calling the Cal State University the ‘people’s university’ of California since the 1960s,” said Don Gerth, former president of Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Sacramento.

Gerth recently published “The People’s University: A History of the California State University,” a book tracing the history of Cal State University after friends and family urged him to do so.

Retiring in 2003, Gerth ended his 45-year career but not his love for CSU.

The book covers the long history of the CSU, which dates as far back as 1857 when the CSU began teaching elementary school teachers in San Francisco.

The school then moved to San Jose, where the comprehensive CSU program was created and formally established in the 1960s – making San Jose State University is the oldest university in California.

The book consists of anecdotes from the system’s early faculty, staff and students.

The text is focused on the “Master Plan,” a plan created in 1960 that under-lied the roles of the University of California (UC), CSU and the California Community Colleges (CCC).

“The CSU system focuses on the needs of California and its citizens for an educated populace and universities, which address the civic and economic development of the state,” Gerth said.

Gerth said the CSU system set the standard for higher education nationally and around the world, and is well-respected and often copied. Gerth said that he, with the help of his wife, researched, interviewed and worked with small focus groups for the purpose of his book.

The “Master Plan” is embraced because it provides students the opportunity to choose what educational path is right for them. Gerth said that in the 1930s, California’s public policy recognized the need for a broader access to higher education. “The system as we know it now was created by the Legislature in the 1960s,” Gerth said. The Master Plan was composed of what were then 10 institutions that were united by the creation of the Board of Trustees.

According to Gerth, the CSU, UC and CCC have thrived even during the hardest of times, and that is why it is emulated around the world.

“My experience at Cal State Fullerton has been good so far,” kinesiology major Stephanie Sahlstedt said. Even when Sahlstedt changed majors, she said that the change went smoothly and had help from her advisers.

The CSU has emerged from 150 years of hard work and leadership from faculty, students, trustees, administrators and alumni, said Gerth.

“I’ve always loved the university campus feel,” said Yvonne Wu, an administrative support assistant for the Department of Mathematics. Wu graduated from University of California Riverside in 2006 with a business degree, and has been working for Cal State Fullerton for the past two years.

Gerth was born and grew up in the south side of Chicago where he obtained three degrees from the University of Chicago, his graduate degree being political science.

“My wife and I have been and are a part of what is now the California State University since 1958. We are both deeply committed to the CSU,” Gerth said.

Daily Titan Staff Writer

The board of trustees for the California State University system met Jan.27  morning to discuss educational policy, where they facilitated conversations about graduation rates, mentorship programs and affordable education.

Many CSU officials voiced a concern about the low number of minority graduations in comparison to the rest of the state.

Many in the group believed that the new graduation initiative, drawn up by CSU presidents this past holiday, did not account for underrepresented students enough; a fact that Chairman Herbert Carter addressed.

“I’m sorry I sound a little emotional,” said Carter, “But, when you have been on this track as I have for 30-plus years, you tend to get a little emotional when people say you are not caring about people of color.”

The CSU system is setting a goal to cut the achievement gap between underrepresented and non-represented students in half within the next six years, Carter said.

The CSU system graduates only about 50 percent of its students and the system is dangerously close to graduating a smaller percentage of the population than ever before, said Jeri Echeverria, the academic officer for CSU system officers.

Because of these somewhat pessimistic views, the system created the graduation initiative which outlines their graduation aspirations in the future.

Echeverria said that within six years, the CSU System would like graduation rates to rise from 46 to 54 percent, which would increase the number of graduates by 7,200.

While the budget problem still casts a shadow on the board’s actions, many seemed hopeful as Chairman Carter reassured the audience that even though money is tight, the officials of the system are working harder to provide high-quality affordable education.

Partly because of the economic downfall, the CSU systems are beginning to put more pressure on developing affordable learning solutions for students.

The average CSU student pays $812 a year for books, which adds up to more than $300 million across the CSUs, said Gerry Hanley, senior director of academic technology services.

“There has been a long term codependency between higher education and publishing companies,” said Hanley, “without any real option for change, until now.”

The CSU system has been a leader in offering students alternative educational opportunities, ranging from online classes to text book rentals, but the system is not content stopping there.

Hanley mentioned an “open courseware” system as a way to cut costs across campuses. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has an Internet site where professors upload their coursework and syllabi and openly share them across campus.

Another site that could prove to be useful for CSU campuses is known as Merlot. This site offers its users open access to about 280 text books as well as other learning materials, such as workshop training and online coursework.

Education is becoming more and more tied with technology as new innovations create opportunities for cheaper and more effective college experiences.

Hanley also highlighted the cooperation of the CSU system with the private sector in order to create more affordable solutions for students.

The CSU system is working with macintosh to push for low text book prices when they are purchased electronically and used on the new Apple Tablet, according to Hanley’s presentation.

Through the multiple efforts of Hanley and his administration, he hopes that within the next year he can save students $75 each on textbook costs.

Text books aside, the quality of professor-student relationship is what truly ensures a quality education.

That very issue was outlined by the board’s discussion over the mentorship program instituted at certain CSU campuses.

This discussion highlighted the important growth that undergraduates under go when introduced into live research projects with their professors as well as CSU leading the way in coastal under water mapping.

And, while California State Fullerton was not there to give a presentation with California State Monterey Bay and California Polytechnic State, they were given an honorable mention for the work that they have done through the coastal and marine project.

The board of trustees will meet again in March to assess the progress of these programs, as well as the overall well being of the CSU system.

Daily Titan News Editor

Graphic by Isa Ghani/Daily Titan Multimedia Editor

In stark contrast with the last two years’ decrease in state support, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, earlier this month, proposed to restore the $305 million in “one-time” cuts to the Cal State University system budget, as well as give the CSU system an additional $60 million for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

“(The Governor) definitely made the CSU (system) … a priority even in these difficult financial times. So, it’s a definite improvement for the CSU (system) and hopefully for Cal State Fullerton,” said Brian Jenkins, Associate Vice President of Finance.

The amount is not the $884 million that Chancellor Charles B. Reed had hoped for and planned on sending to the board of trustees when he last spoke to the Daily Titan in November, but he remains optimistic about the Governor’s proposal.

“If adopted by the legislature, this budget will allow us to begin restoring student access to our university. In this extremely difficult budget climate, we recognize and very much appreciate the Governor making higher education a priority. Clearly, he understands how important restored budgets for higher education are for jobs and California’s economic recovery. We are still faced with challenging circumstances and it will be a slow process as we seek to return to financial stability. This budget will help start us on the path to recovery,” said Reed in a press release.

To be approved, the budget must pass through both Assembly and Senate health subcommittees and a revision process in May after the state accounts for tax revenues, according to Clara Potes-Fellow, CSU Director of Media Relations.

“It’s preliminary. We have a long way to go,” said Ed Trotter, acting Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Programs. “This is the first of many steps.”

As to whether the budget will be approved by the legislature, no one can say.

“It is too early to make a judgment,” said Potes-Fellow. “What we can say is that the proposed state budget represents a positive starting point for the CSU (system).”
The CSU system has implemented many cost-saving techniques including employee furloughs, enrollment reduction and student fee hikes in response to the 21 percent decrease in state support over the last two years, which amounts to $625 million.

It’s unclear, if this budget is approved, how it will affect these cost-saving techniques. The dispersal of the money is up to the discretion of the Chancellor’s office.

“The CSU (system) is evaluating the proposed state budget to see what the impact will be,” said Potes-Fellow. “This budget proposal, if approved by the legislature, could help restore student access.”

As for right now, the whole CSU system can only wait.

“At Cal State Fullerton we’re not incorporating those funds in our budget planning for next year,” said Jenkins. “Until we know the additional funding levels are actually confirmed and we know that we have them we’ll continue to budget extremely conservative on the campus so we don’t budget for funds that may not eventually appear.”

Despite the possibility of additional funding, the level of state funding support is still below the level in 2007-2008, according to a CSU press release. The budget also suggests a 10 percent increase in student fees. The decision to increase student fees, however, remains the duty of the CSU Board of Directors, which, as of right now, has yet to make a decision.

For the Daily Titan

Cal State Fullerton faculty and staff members are still required to take nine mandatory furlough days this semester to reduce the $564 million deficit facing the California State University System this 2009-2010 academic year.

The CSU system will continue with the way furloughs were handled in the fall 2009 semester because the spring semester still falls under the major deficit.

“The concepts of a furlough remain the same. It continues to be the same budget that we started with,” Erik Fallis, media relations specialist for the CSU system said.

The presidents from each of the 23 campuses may schedule six furlough days for faculty members throughout the semester, giving each of the campuses a unique schedule depending on their needs.

“Under the terms of the July 28, 2009 CSU Furlough Agreement with the California Faculty Association, each campus president may designate up to six furlough days for instructional faculty. President Gordon designated three days for fall and three days for spring,” Paula Selleck, Senior Communications Officer of Public Affairs, said.

President Gordon scheduled three mandatory furlough days for faculty on Jan. 22, Feb. 12 and Feb. 16. Faculty members are left to decide how to schedule the remaining nine furlough days accordingly, Selleck added.

The scheduled furlough days implemented by President Gordon fall on days where there is the least disruption for students.

“The first scheduled furlough day for the semester (was) Friday, Jan. 22. That’s a day that does not do adverse harm to a student,” Selleck said.

Faculty and staff members follow different calendars. Instead of taking nine furlough days staff members are required to take two furlough days each month.

Even though furloughs represent no class, faculty and students are in accordance that there is still schoolwork and research that needs to continue even tough there is no class time scheduled for certain days.

Faculty members are not allowed to hold class, office hours or answer e-mails, but faculty members will assign students work to complete during their scheduled furlough days.

Furloughs help review the deficit because of the 10 percent reduction. Since 80 percent of the CSU system budget is in salaries you will see the impact that the furlough program will have in the deficit, Clara Potes-Fellow, Director of Media Relations for the CSU, said.

These cuts not only help with the deficit, but they help retain many jobs and maintain the benefits of those who are still employed under the CSU system, CSU officials said.

“This year furloughs have helped keep people employed and those people who were employed kept their benefits. We did have some people who were not retained, but the numbers would have been much higher had furloughs not been implemented,” said media relations specialist Erik Fallis.

For students, that funding allows campuses to continue offering courses and course sections. Without furloughs there might have been other actions taken and those actions might have impacted students, he added.

Fallis acknowledged that the decision to implement furlough days was not an easy decision to make.

“Smaller paychecks are a hard thing for anybody and it is not a decision that the CSU system would have taken had there not been the tremendous reduction there was in the 2009-2010 academic year… It was one of those decisions made to maintain that integrity academically and financially of the institution,” Fallis said.

There is not clear answer to the possibility of furloughs in the 2010-2011 academic year.

“It is impossible to say which tactics will be necessary… It’s early to say what might be discussed because the state of California is still discussing its budget, and that has a huge impact on the CSU’s budget,” Fallis said.

States that qualify for the assistance are given 67 percent of the total $4.9 billion allocation during the first phase of allocation, according to the Office of the Governor. The SFSF program is a new, one-time appropriation of $53.6 billion of aid under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Department of Education will award governors approximately $48.6 billion under the SFSF program in exchange for a commitment to advance essential education reforms. These funds will help stabilize state and local government budgets in order to minimize and avoid reductions in education and other essential public services.

In August, Gov. Schwarzenegger petitioned for an advancement of funds. This was taken from the second phase of the SFSF, which was not scheduled to be released until December. The ARRA approved the advance because of a provision making it possible for governors to request the funds if they cite hardship.

On Sept. 15, Schwarzenegger announced that the Department of Education granted the extra $1.3 billion, meaning that California received a total of $4.5 billion for its education system. Higher education received $1.5 billion of the funds to make up for budget reductions made in 2008 and 2009.

The allocation of money has provided California State Universities with an extra $25 million for its 23 campuses to provide additional course sections and classes for students. Statewide, this will allow CSU campuses to add approximately 4,000 additional courses and retain up to 800 lecturers for the winter/spring term. This is the only logical place the money could have gone at this time.

Cal State Fullerton received $1.65 million, which is only a fraction of what the school lost during the budget cuts. The federal aid money has already been allocated creating 264 more classes and secure positions for lecturers for the spring 2010 semester, said President Milton Gordon. The classes that are added will be spread through out the eight colleges to help juniors and seniors satisfy their capstone classes in order to ensure a timely graduation.

The timing of the SFSF is just the thing students need to hear as the school takes steps toward improvements, something students have been asking for. But, the federal aid money is only a temporary fix to a problem that has been building for years.

In a greater attempt to restore the CSU’s $625 million or 21 percent budget cut from the last two years, the CSU Board of Trustees Finance Committee has established a budget proposal for 2010-11 calling for an $884 million increase in state support from the legislature and governor, according to a CSU press release. CSU is asking the state to restore funding of the one-time cut that was imposed this year as well as providing the needed revenue for mandatory costs, compensation and improvements in student services and instruction.

This proposal is a bit ambitious, but if it gets approved by the state, higher education will be given a greater chance to restore its learning opportunities, get rid of faculty furloughs, decrease tuition costs and decrease enrollment cuts. Due to the massive budget cut, CSU expects to reduce enrollment by 40,000 students over the next two years. It is becoming more difficult for prospective students to get accepted into CSUs to receive the education they want. The proposal for an increase in financial support is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for the CSUs.

A world-class education, essential for the success of yourself, your state and your nation, is slipping away from California’s social contract.

Since realizing the inevitable last fall, you’ve walked out, sat in and spoken up.

The outrage – real outrage – on UC, CSU and community college campuses is palpable. In fact, students’ reactions have received global media coverage. Of the massive protests last September, the UK Guardian wrote of the “shock” it sent throughout the capital.

So the die has been cast. The state of California has crossed the Rubicon. Sacramento wants your education back.

You’ve blamed the regents; suspicious of how readily they accepted the cuts and questioning of their compensation, you want answers. You’ve blamed the governor for heaping the fallout of California’s colossal dysfunction onto the shoulders of its children and for seeming aloof from the plight of California’s students. You’ve blamed the state legislature for doing its best to undermine your education and for allowing nearly every other function of the state to grind to a halt on its watch.

But something about these enemies doesn’t stick. The regents are only reacting to what’s coming down on them from the state capital, and their compensation alone doesn’t come close to closing the hole.

Even in good economic times, the Governor and the legislature only control a fraction of the budget. The rest is “locked in” by the spending priorities, restrictions by the political movements and bond measures of yesterday.

The legislature is a tempting target, but fees have increased during periods of Republican control and Democratic control, in both good economic times and bad. You have every reason to believe that you will continue to receive less education for more money no matter who wins what election where or when.

No, the fee hikes, the layoffs and the furloughs (like the IOUs, the prisons and the water) are bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they are certainly bigger than the regents. For this reason, you and your fellow students have been visibly frustrated trying to find the right target for your wrath, the most effective avenue for your collective action.

Should you look to Sacramento? Today, at this very moment, the Capital exists in a state of controlled-anarchy. Every lobbying firm and every interest group scavenges whatever it can from the public body; the feast has no strategy, no master plan and no guiding principle.

The beast has shown itself capable of devouring water systems, prison systems, roads, bridges and the social safety net, and now it’s hungry for the greatest university system in the history of our species. The monster cannot be tamed or captured, and its gluttony is ravaging us all.

Then it hits. The problem is Sacramento. Your enemy is Sacramento.

What do you do? When who controls the legislature or the governor’s mansion has largely ceased to matter and when the system and all its parts has become so fundamentally committed to destroying everything you love – from your parks to your health to your education – where do you turn? Do you tinker around the edges? No. You get a new system.

Last month, a coalition of advocacy groups called “Repair California” finalized and submitted two ballot measures to do just that, by calling for a California constitutional convention.

If the measures succeed at the ballot, we would be enabled to scrap the old system and build a new one, one that learns from other states and reflects the California of tomorrow. No other reform proposal offers such an opportunity, not even close.

I don’t know about you, but I refuse to accept the status quo and what it’s doing to us. It’s time for us to seize our future. California needs you. This movement needs you.

Visit RepairCalifornia.org

Adrian Covert

Member, Repair California

Proud CSU Alumnus

The California Faculty Association discussed the issue of restructuring in the Cal State University and University of California systems on Tuesday. The CFA authored a white paper, a report addressing the issue, entitled “’Restructuring’ the CSU or Wrecking It?”

The press conference call focused primarily on the effects that restructuring has had on CSUs because of the elimination of academic programs that are significant in higher learning.

The biggest concern of the CFA is the elimination of academic programs and the future impact that these changes will have on CSU campuses.

According to a press release from Lisa Cohen, some CSU campuses that are already undergoing restructuring are Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Humboldt, Pomona, San Diego and Stanislaus.

Susan Meisenhelder, general manager for CFA, began the meeting by stating the reason the new white paper was written.

“These changes have dramatic, disastrous long term effects for the future prosperity of California, and it is important for the public to know what is at stake,” Meisenhelder said.

Lillian Taiz, president of CFA, summarized the white paper while David Bradfield, professor of music and digital arts and CFA chapter president at Cal State Dominguez Hills, addressed the effects restructuring has had on the campus.

Bradfield said he believes that the CSU is becoming “smaller, more elite and structured to serve the strict needs of corporate interests rather than the broad interests of a participatory democracy.”

He clarified this statement by stating that restructuring when it comes to core subjects is training students for trade work rather than training them to be critical thinkers.

Career training is a problematic end result because careers are changing and instead, students are trained to have certain kinds of jobs instead of being life long learners, Taiz said.

Taiz sees this as a major problem at CSUDH because students do not have the variety of programs that they once had due to the impact restructuring has had on the campus.

Music, languages, multicultural studies, life sciences, art and physics were some of the subject areas mentioned in the press conference that are in jeopardy of being eliminated.

With the lack of many of these classes, many students are now forced to stay longer in school to graduate.

Taiz acknowledged that the CSU is not standing by its promise to provide access to quality four-year education and instead is disappearing.

The CFA has expressed frustrations about the failures of CSU Board of Trustees and the chancellor to fight for the system, Taiz said.

“We have seen instead a quiet acceptance of every cut, and at the same time, student fees have more than doubled, faculty positions have been eliminated and enrollment caps established,” she said.

Aside from financial increases, enrollment will be dramatically affected because of restructuring. Taiz states that the CSUs will deny 40,000 students acceptance compared to the 2,500 students that will be denied in the UCs.

CSU admission requirements will not be similar to those of the UC, but it will be more challenging for students to be accepted into certain campuses and certain programs, Taiz said.

“We are denying an entire generation of students access to an education and in doing so, we are denying them a chance to achieve their American Dream. On top of that, however, we are digging ourselves into a deeper economic hole in California,” Taiz said.