The California State University board of trustees meeting on Wednesday began with a new sense of hope for educational policies.
The trustees discussed their plans to take action in some of the issues affecting students’ education.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell spoke about improving tactics to better assist students and staff.
“One million college graduates are short of the expectations by the end of 2009,” O’Connell said. “Instead of watering down expectations and teacher systems, we want to increase overall programs.”
The board acknowledged the financial hardships of faculty and students and is focused on targeting the state’s quality of education.
O’Connell pushed during the meeting the idea of upgrading student performance and teaching experience.
Student representatives from other CSU campuses spoke to the board of trustees about how they want the committee to take action.
Cal State Long Beach faculty and staff also organized a mock funeral and rally outside of the chancellor’s office to influence participants to get involved and help bring education back to life.
CFA Treasurer and CSULB faculty member Peter Kreysa invited student and faculty to get involved in voicing their frustrations with this year’s budget cuts.
During the meeting, Vice Chairman Herbert L. Carter also presented the committee with six action items to increase the budget and quality of higher education. Three problems stood out and were considered a huge factor for academic underachievement.
Besides the economy, “alcohol is the No. 1 problem that students face in CSU college campuses,” according to Fresno State University President John D. Wealty. One of the main topics addressed at the meeting was the CSU Alcohol Policies and Prevention program, developed in 2001.
Other prevention strategies, such as on-campus interventions, community agencies and club involvements, helped improve the overall outcome of educational policy during 2007-09 on eight CSU campuses. Promoting alcohol-free events and receiving safety grants have resulted in a reduced alcohol-use trend.
According to a CSU press release, CSU campuses have seen fewer incidents of students driving under the influence, alcohol-related misconduct, underage drinking and binge drinking.
Concluding his presentation, Wealty played a video from a San Francisco State University student depicting a fellow SFSU student losing his life to alcohol.
The Calfornia Office of Traffic Safety has given the CSU three grants of $700,000 each to reduce alcohol abuse. Participating campuses include SFSU, San Jose State University and Cal State Northridge.