Academic Senate CSU meetings of January 16-18, 2008

Reported by Steven Stepanek

The Sessions started on Wednesday with a special report from:

Patrick Lenz, Assistant Vice Chancellor, on the economic impact of the current State fiscal crisis on the California State University system. Patrick discussed the current State funding deficit of $14.5 billion, pointing out that the CSU was exempted from the 2007-08 mid-year budget cuts imposed on other State agencies. He briefed the Academic Senate on the current 2008-09 budget, pointing out that fiscal funding to cover the terms of the Compact was included in the budget but that bottom line reductions were then made of $312.9 million and $72 million which happen to total to approximately the amount of the additional funding specified by the Compact. 2008-09 enrollment targets for each CSU campus will be held at the 2007-08 levels (no growth). Patrick stated that all faculty salary increases through the end of June 2008 are absolutely safe but that increases scheduled for July 1, 2008 and beyond are currently at-risk because of the fiscal crisis.

The Thursday Plenary session started with the usual reports from the standing committees and Chancellor’s Office representatives.

Gary Reichard, Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer, stated that due to the current budget crisis, funding for many technology initiatives will probably be suspended for the remainder of this academic year and next year, including academic infrastructure improvements. One key technology based project that will continue for at least Spring 2008 is the Transforming Course Design project that will explore new ways to present developmental math and introductory chemistry courses to students in the CSU. Regarding the Learning Management System (LMS) initiative (e.g. Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle), Gary stressed “campus choice”, with the role of the Chancellor’s Office being to assist in negotiating system-wide agreements with vendors rather than selecting specific systems for system-wide use.

Gary stated that the VSA – CLA testing will occur again in 2008-09. Regarding Access to Excellence, a new “proposed revised draft” has just been made available to members of the Access to Excellence Steering Committee; the hope is that this draft will be the base for the final report, which should be available by March 2008.

In an effort to control CSU enrollments in light of the fiscal crisis, freshman applications were closed on February 1, 2008 on all but seven CSU campus with full closure on application acceptance on March 1, 2008.

Stephanie Brasley, CSU Manager of Information Literacy Initiatives, was introduced and reported on her activities coordinating CSU initiatives regarding information literacy and that Information Literary was now a WASC requirement.

John Travis, CFA, covered the importance of CFA to work with the CSU Board of Trustees on the pending budget issues. He stated that there could be a reopener of the Contract for the coming two-year period regarding salary increases.

Faculty Trustee Craig Smith also expressed concerns regarding the out come of the current budget crisis. He stated that between the budget issues and the economic downturn of housing industry, future development of faculty housing is at risk. Craig stated that 75% of open faculty positions in the CSU were filled last year (considered to be a very good rate). He stated that in the current Access to Excellence draft the issue of faculty workload is not specifically addressed.

Chancellor Reed focused on the budget crisis. Updates on what was covered have since been distributed by email to all faculty and also posted on the Chancellor’s Office web site: http://www.calstate.edu/CSULeader/2008/080111.htm and http://www.calstate.edu/PA/news/2008/budget_release.shtml

Resolutions consideration:

1.  Drops, Withdrawals, Incompletes and Repeats (second reading) – passed; the resolution acknowledged the CSU Taskforce report on Drops, Withdrawals, Incompletes and Repeats and stated a lack of support for the proposals involving transfer courses or full semester withdrawals in the calculations.

2.  Distinctive Universities and Campuses: The Autonomy of Individual Institutions in a Multi Institutional System (second reading) –passed; reaffirms Cornerstones Principle 10 that the CSU institutions each have a distinct mission, identity and program.

3.  Graduate Business Degrees (second reading) – passed; recommends the Board of Trustees reject the proposal for supplementary student fees for graduate business programs.

4.  Role and Responsibility of the CSU Doctorate in Education Advisory Committee (second reading) – passed.

5.  Response to Governor’s Budget Recommendations (first reading, waiver) – passed; urges the Board of Trustees and the Chancellor to work with the Governor and Legislature towards the restoration of the unallocated reduction to the CSU in the proposed State budget.

6.  Change to Academic Senate Bylaws (first reading) – proposes changes to the ASCSU committee structure.

7.  Support of the Doctorate in Nursing Practice in the CSU (first reading).

8.  The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) (first reading) – call for the assessment of the current CLA project by CSU faculty and consideration of other assessment instruments.

9.  Criteria for Evaluating Systemwide Program Fee Proposals (first reading) – calls for the Board of Trustees to adopt a stated set of criteria when considering proposals to increase systemwide program fees.

10.  Changes in the Teaching Credential Programs to Ensure Preparation of Technology Knowledgeable Teachers (first reading).

11.  Support for the California State University Request to Delay Implementation of the new State Mandated Teacher Performance Assessments (first reading).

More information about these resolutions can be found at: http://www.calstate.edu/AcadSen/Records/