The Cal State University Board of Trustees discussed a plan to freeze enrollment and cut faculty positions, while approving salary increases for two CSU presidents, in their meeting Tuesday.
Trustees discussed a plan of action to deal with a potential $200 million budget cut if Gov. Jerry Brown’s two state tax initiatives doesn’t pass in November.
“We will need to reorganize, downsize, and restructure administrative duties,” Chief Financial Officer Benjamin Quillian said. “And most importantly, we will be forced to reduce further our enrollment and work force.”
More than 3,000 CSU faculty positions may be cut, according to Quillian.
The CSU plans on cutting enrollment by 20,000 to 25,000 by freezing spring admissions for 2013 on almost all campuses, with the exception of eight. CalState Long Beach’s spring in enrollment would be frozen. Also, eligible fall 2013 applicants will be waitlisted until the results of the November vote are known.
Robert Turnage, assistant vice chancellor for the budget, said that if Brown’s tax initiative passes, the CSU will be provided with some relief, but they must be prepared for a worst-case scenario.
“There may be the possibility of finding some other ways in which we can mitigate some of this,” Turnage said. “But it’s hard to see a situation where we would be able to escape the fundamental fact that we do need to start bringing our enrollments down further.”
The BOT also passed 10 percent salary increases for two new CSU presidents during the meeting – Leroy M. Morishita of Cal State East Bay, and Mildred GarcÃa of Cal State Fullerton.
Trustees Steven M. Glazer and Margaret G. Fortune opposed the motion. They said a salary increase did not make sense during this difficult economic time for California.
“We have existing university presidents undertaking the same important work who have not received a pay increase in five years,” Glazer said. “We have outstanding faculty and staff who have also not received a pay raise in five years, and who have experienced salary deductions due to forced time off.”
As the meeting was winding down, CSU students began to voice their general disapproval of the board with outbursts and chants. Some were escorted out and asked not to come back.
“I had walked out and one of the representatives from inside told me not to come back in,” Cal State Dominguez Hills senior Antoine Wilson said. “It’s an open meeting, it’s a public building that our student fees pay for, and they’re not allowing students in. It’s a little weird.”
what else is new?
Instead of doing this why don’t they charge idiot students more money to get their degree??? Have a tier-fee system installed.
Incoming students and Freshmen-pay accordingly with their unweighted high school GPA or previous community college GPA (none of that 5.0 scale stuff). Subsequent semesters are based strictly on your college GPA.
1.5-2.0 GPA- 30,000 a year
2.0-2.5 GPA- 21,000 a year
3.0-3.5 GPA- 7,000 a year
3.5-3.8 GPA – 3,000 a year
3.8-4.0 GPA – FREE
4.0 students get a bonus of $500 to spend on books per academic year!
International students should be subjected to these fees on top of their current tuition costs.
We should cut back on giving free tutoring to unprepared students which costs the school upwards of 2-4 million dollars a year. Yep we spend that much on the Writers Resource Center and some services at the Learning Assistance Center. Really?! Its unneeded, at least for free! Make them pay for that extra in their tuition if they want it.
Charges students to use that stupid recreation center (which btw, probably less than 1% of the school uses).
Stop giving financial aid to students with a GPA below 3.0.. Really it isn’t that hard to have a “B” average at CSULB.
I don’t know how freezing admissions helps anyone. It just ends up generating less money as less students are enrolled! Firing teachers is really dumb, we need them.