Newly elected Mayor Robert Garcia returned to his alma matter Friday to address how Cal State Long Beach and other Long Beach educational institutions made him the “product” of the Long Beach College Promise.
Garcia publicly discussed his new policies for the first time as Long Beach’s new mayor with a crowd of about 150 Long Beach community members at the University Student Union ballrooms. There, the Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach City College and CSULB gathered in recognition of their collaboration in the Long Beach College Promise, which helps provide students in the city with access to higher education. He pledged his support to keeping the college promise strong.
As mayor, Garcia said that he intends to focus on five major initiatives: a responsible budget, economic development, open government, a sustainable city and support for the Long Beach institution.
“I want to make sure that, as mayor, I do everything I can to support this university, our community college and our school district,” Garcia said. “I want to make sure that I focus, as mayor, on education. I will be your strongest advocate in education as a product of the public education system, as a product of our university, as a product of Long Beach.”
CSULB President Jane Close Conoley, who hosted the event, made her first on-campus public appearance there.
Her fourth day on campus, Conoley addressed how “notable” the results of the Long Beach College Promise have been.
Among the results, Conoley said the number of LBUSD students who attend CSULB has doubled in the last 10 years, with 618 freshman incoming from LBUSD.
Additionally, she said that CSULB now has 457 transfers from LBCC.
Conoley said that even more amazing beyond the numbers is the fact that the numbers of students ready for college-level math and college-level English doubled and tripled, respectively.
This year, CSULB had over 83,000 applicants and 54,000 of them were applying for freshman spots, she said.
“It would have been easy for us to turn away and turn our back on access as a core part of our value, but we didn’t because of our partnerships with the Long Beach College Promise,” she said. “It’s a commitment that we have benefited from, and that we intend to keep.”
Former CSULB President Robert C. Maxson, who was president for 28 years, gave a warm welcome to Conoley and praised Garcia for his accomplishments. He told the audience about the time when Garcia was the student body president. He said Garcia would visit Maxson in his office, and Maxson would share his views about campus plans with Garcia.
“He was listening patiently, and politely, and when I finished, he would say, ‘But Mr. President, what about the students? How is this going to affect the students?’ Maxson said. “Barely out of his teens, Robert understood the notion of public service.”
He said Garcia will do his best to serve every citizen in Long Beach as he did for his students as student body president.
“If Robert is half as good — half as good — as mayor, as he was as student body president, he will be the best mayor in the state of California.”