It has been seven months since the California State University board of trustees has had a faculty member representative, yet a new faculty trustee has not yet been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Craig Smith, former Cal State Long Beach film and electronic arts department chair, stepped down from the position in July 2009 to focus on teaching and directing the Center for First Amendment Studies. Since then, the Academic Senate has sent candidates to Schwarzenegger to assign the position.
“It is important that the CSU has a faculty member on its board of trustees as policies are discussed and adopted that have a wide-ranging impact on the university,” said Erik Fallis, CSU media relations specialist.
Some of the major duties of the position include ensuring that shared governance continues, advising the board on policy issues, balancing the budget, working behind the scenes on a new faculty contract and making sure that campus administrators are not distorting board policy, Smith said.
“The faculties on the campuses have not been able to benefit from the wisdom and guidance of the faculty trustee,” said John Tarjan, chair of the Statewide Academic Senate.
The law governing the appointment of the faculty trustee states that the statewide Academic Senate is to send at least two names of candidates to the governor in a timely fashion.
“The statewide Academic Senate did that before my term ended, selecting from a diverse pool of qualified applicant-professors, which included two women: an Asian American and a lesbian,” Smith said in an open letter to Schwarzenegger.
At the moment, the governor has the names of two faculty trustee nominees, Barry Pasternack of Cal State Fullerton and Hank Reichman of Cal State East Bay. Both have been interviewed by representatives of the governor twice, Tarjan said.
However, both candidates were turned down by the governor because he wanted to add more diversity to the board of trustees.
“There was some confusion about how much each of the nominees was involved in union activity,” Smith said.
Many faculty members may see it as a contentious process because they believe they have complied with all statutory requirements, but the governor’s office may believe that it is acting in accordance with its responsibilities, Tarjan said.
Tarjan said it is impossible to know how much longer it will take to fill the position, but that he expects an appointment will take place in the next couple of weeks.