| Tuesday, July 22, 2003 CFA HEADLINES THIS WEEK'S HEADLINES:
FOLLOWED BY:
1 - TRUSTEES VOTE TO RAISE STUDENTS FEES
When they finally got around to the 11-2 vote that officially raises CSU student fees by 30%, the Trustee's action was perfunctory and carried a bitter taste. Earlier that morning, some 250 students and faculty members jammed the Trustee's meeting in Long Beach to hear speakers urge the Trustees not to balance the budget on their backs with another huge fee hike. Some students were in tears, others angry. One actually caught the attention of the Chancellor and Trustees by comparing the pressure of the huge fee hike to a weightlifter who struggles to handle a 30% increase in barbells. A few pounds at a time, a person can adjust to that. But an extra 100 pounds? But displays of feelings and clever sports metaphors, although well taken by the CSU's football-minded chancellor, were not enough to win the day. Only the Student Trustee Alex Lopez and Trustee Rick Icaza, a labor leader recently appointed to the board by Gov. Davis, voted against the resolution. Compared to reports commonly given at Trustees meetings, Assistant Vice Chancellor Patrick Lenz provided an unusually relevant powerpoint presentation. To his credit, he displayed an accurate outline of the Supplemental Budget Language worked out with CFA for the state budget, that should guide the CSU toward protecting instruction from the budget axe. However, the presentation offered no options other than a sharp student fee hike, lay offs, and an enrollment cap. There was a notable silence on the matter of reducing CMS/PeopleSoft spending until Icaza asked about it. Trustee Bill Hauck said they will postpone CMS spending "if at all possible" for the coming academic year only, offering no details or dates. And he alluded to differences of view between the CSU administration and the state auditors on the project. Few cuts in administration were specified although it was said there would be a 9% reduction in the Chancellor's Office this year. Lenz said peak spending on the Chancellor's Office was $32.5 million reached in 2000. In 2003, he said, this spending would be $26 million. Chancellor Reed, in his report, emphasized that his office is doing more than cutting plants and eliminating free coffee. He said his office would not fill 40 vacant positions. As for us, statewide reductions being proposed involve leaving vacant about 2300 positions. Lenz said this is 3.5% of the 16,000 FTE faculty and about 11% of the 18,000 FTE staff. He said the intent is to keep these positions open before any layoffs. Lenz did not clarify how the system would handle lecturers working on temporary contracts. Nor did he mention that layoff notices have already gone out to two librarians at Cal State L.A. Caitlin Gill of the California State Student Association challenged the notion that increased financial aid will offset the pain of the fee increase. She noted that middle-income students and many full-time working students will not qualify and will be forced to work longer hours, which will make study time shorter and more arduous. CFA President John Travis, Vice President Lillian Taiz, Treasurer Kim Geron and Lecturer's Rep. Linda Current each addressed the Trustees. Taiz in particular responded to a comment by a campus president that the fee increase equals one cup of coffee per day. "I have been horrified by public statements, which suggest that CSU students waste state resources and who equate the fee increase variously to the students' annual cel phone, CD, or beer budget. It is hard to imagine anyone having this much contempt for the young men and women I teach." (One student speaker replied he needs that daily cup of coffee.) Travis made a plea for greater openness and collaboration in implementing budget changes this Fall. "The CFA is composed of 22,000 academics, people who chose their occupations to live the life of the mind and of reason," he said. "We are not ideological zealots. We can be convinced with good arguments which is what we have asked for before and are asking you now." After the Finance Committee meeting, which directly preceded the full Trustees meeting, and which was the place where all public comment was taken, the students proceeded outside to demonstrate their opinion of the day. A dozen newspapers and three TV crews interviewed them. Some students called for a protest strike when school starts in the Fall. Then they left, waving placards and chanting, leaving the Trustees finally to vote, by roll call, in the large dimly lit meeting chamber. See transcripts of CFA leaders' presentations to the Trustees to be posted later this week at <http://www.calfac.org/budget.html> See CFA's position on student fees at <http://www.calfac.org/issues.html> (scroll down to CFA Resolutions). 2 - WHY IT'S SO HARD TO PIN DOWN HOW THE CSU SPENDS ITS MONEY It's frustrating. On the campuses and statewide, it seems too difficult to pin down how the CSU spends its money. Considering the large sums of public money being spent, and the severity of the state's budget crisis, one would expect an open and inclusive process as administrators try to make ends meet. But that is not the case. Like other state agencies, the CSU for many years had a line-item budget. Any interested person or group could see plainly how much was spent on each item. That changed in the early 1990s right after the recession that led to the last round of class cuts and layoffs. The state legislature granted the university system a high degree of budgetary flexibility. The CSU scrapped its "Orange Book," an extremely complicated set of formulas and line items that governed the resource allocation process. Instead, the state began allocating money to the CSU with very few strings attached. This increased flexibility resulted in a decentralized budget process. Rather than setting the budget by using formulas, budgetary decisions wound up being made by campus administrators. Then, as budgets became increasingly decentralized, the CSU administration also changed its reporting process. The new reports focused less on inputs (e.g. how/where money was being spent) and more on education outcomes (e.g. student performance). Under the new budgeting and reporting scheme, a great deal of budget-related data remains at the campus level and is not reported in official state documents such as the Governor's Budget. In addition, campuses are not required to publish their budgets in a uniform fashion. While some campuses (such as CSU Long Beach) publish extremely detailed budget presentations, others (such as CSU Hayward) offer almost no detail at all. So when you try to figure out how much is spent on some aspect of management, or on some particular aspect of instruction, more often than not the numbers that would tell you are lacking. 3 - CFA leaders on TV and radio Throughout June and July CFA leaders have been on TV and radio talking about the budget, fees and the importance of public higher education. During June, CFA Fresno Chapter President Bob Merrill was interviewed on local TV. CFA's statewide secretary Patricia Hill did a 30-minute radio interview for two San Jose area stations and did a short spot on NBC-TV news live in the Bay Area on July 3. Two radio talk shows invited CFA leaders to join panels on the CSU and the impact of student fees increases this past Monday. KPFA-FM's Morning Show interviewed CFA Treasurer Kim Geron at 7:30 AM. And, KQED-FM's Forum, one of the most popular talk shows in Northern California, had CFA Vice President Lillian Taiz along with CSU Trustee Debra Farar and others for an hour with many callers. The show was one of the few opportunities CFA leaders have been able to get face-to-face time with Farar. The KQED show is archived on the station's web site. Go to kqed.org, search for Forum, archives, and go to July 21, 9 am. Or try the following URL: THE CSU TRUSTEES: Who they are And how they voted On the Student Fee Increase Trustees appointed by the Governor
Ex Officio Trustees
OFFICIAL RESOLUTION ON CSU STUDENT FEES COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 2003/2004 State University Fee Increase (RFIN 07-03-10) RESOLVED, By the Board of Trustees of the California State University, that the following schedule for the State University Fee, which incorporates a thirty percent increase for undergraduate and graduate students, for the 2003-04 academic year, effective fall term 2003 is approved until further amended: 2003-04 State University Fee Schedule (Effective Fall 2003) All Campuses, except California State University, Stanislaus: Units Per Semester Per Quarter Per Academic Year Undergraduate California State University, Stanislaus: Units Per Semester Winter Term Per Academic Year Undergraduate 6.1 or more $931 $184 $2,046 0 to 6.0 $502 $184 $1,188 Graduate 6.1 or more $1,027 $202 $2,256 0 to 6.0 $553 $202 $1,308 And, be it further RESOLVED, That the chancellor may approve individual campus State University Fee rates that do not exceed the maximum fee rates established by this fee schedule. See Previous CFA Headlines at <http://www.calfac.org/headlines.html>
|