The rally held on March 4, “Students for A Quality Education,” was a bold statement on the importance of public higher education in California and the nation. At the rally, I was asked to speak on behalf of President Alexander, who is in Washington, D.C., working to expand the role of the federal government in supporting public higher education. Due to a variety of factors, including the size of the gathering, the points I made were not able to be heard, so I want to provide this information to the campus community.
Here are my points:
The rallies on March 4 at Cal State Long Beach and across the state and nation, demonstrate the high level of frustration that exists regarding the unprecedented reductions in funding to support public higher education. We all hope that the actions taken on March 4 send a clear message to Sacramento that support for public higher education is critical to our collective futures and to the future of California. California cannot thrive without support for education — kindertgarten through graduate school.
We are fortunate to be on a campus that has long made students the first priority. “Student success” is more than a phrase on this campus — we put students first.
Graduating students is job No. 1. We are fortunate to be on a campus where the nonacademic divisions agree to take more than their share of budget reductions to support instruction — to provide more classes for students. We are fortunate to be on a campus whose faculty, staff and administration consistently place the needs of students as a personal priority.
We are very fortunate on this campus to have a President — F. King Alexander — who is a national leader in crafting public policy in support of higher education. In the last few months, he has met with President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and the two undersecretaries. Two weeks ago, he appeared before a joint hearing of members of the California Assembly and Senate, speaking about the state of the Master Plan for Higher Education.
We are very fortunate to be on a campus that has a transparent budget process — the Resource Planning Process — that includes representatives from each division of CSULB and the president of ASI, Chris Chavez. The work of the committee is posted on the CSULB Budget Central Web site, available to anyone, as are a variety of budget documents from Academic Affairs and other units. This includes the most recent changes — it is there for all to see.
The budget process has been greatly enhanced by an Academic Senate Retreat, held in October, that focused on ways to manage our budget reductions. The total number of participants was about 150, including about 20 students.
As promised, I will deliver the list of demands to President Alexander when he returns to campus.
California used to be the envy of the nation in its public schools and public universities. That is far from true now. We all believe that the “Students for A Quality Education” rally will send to Sacramento a strong and clear message that support for all of public education must again be a priority for state support. The future of California is at stake.
I congratulate all who participated in the rally, including the California Faculty Association and student leaders. The rally was by all reports the largest turnout of any campus in the state. It was orderly, focused on the central message, and very spirited! The rally made a dramatic statement for all to hear.
Donald Para is the Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs