Chancellor, California State University
CSU Board of Trustees Meeting: Chancellor’s Report
Long Beach, CA
January 25, 2012
Thank you, Chair Carter.
We have quite a few presidential transitions I would like to acknowled.
We have officially named Leroy Morishita as president of Cal State East Bay. He had been serving as interim president there.
I also want to thank and recognize Willie Hagan, the vice president for administration and CFO at Cal State Fullerton, whom I have appointed to serve as the Fullerton interim president until we appoint a president there.
And I want to recognize Harold Hellenbrand, the Cal State Northridge provost, whom I have appointed to serve as the Northridge interim president until our search there is completed.
We will be continuing the Northridge search. We have also started the San Bernardino, San Francisco, and Maritime searches. The number of searches we are conducting right now is unprecedented. The workload is tremendous. It is stretching the board and our staff as far as we can go.
However, it is a priority right now to find qualified candidates who can lead our universities through all of the turmoil that we are experiencing here in California.
We welcome any suggestions or nominations you may have.
Budget
As far as our budget situation goes, we are out of tricks or easy solutions. This is the most discouraging budget we have ever received in my 14 years here. You heard me say yesterday that measured by spending based on per capita income, we are at the lowest level of spending since 1962.
The governor's 2012/13 budget calls for no change from this year's level of state support, as long as his tax initiative is passed by voters in November. If voters do not approve the tax measure, a series of trigger cuts that would go into effect, including an additional $200 million cut to the CSU, which represents almost 27,000 enrolled students. That would bring state support to $1.8 billion, which would be the lowest level of state funding since 1996-97, even though the CSU enrolls 95,000 more students today.
I will be working with the presidents on how we will deal with this worst-case scenario. We will be talking about all different options, and we will have to look at many painful choices.
This situation also affects our presidential searches, because many candidates see what is going on here in California and they know that they would be facing an extremely difficult budget.
Highlights
Even during this dark time for our budget, we continue to be proud of what we are doing to serve students and how we are looked at as a national model.
I want to recognize Cal State Long Beach President King Alexander, who was one of only 10 presidents from around the country invited to speak with President Obama at the White House on college affordability.
We are looking forward to our seventh annual Super Sunday series of events next month. We will visit more than 100 African-American churches throughout California. Earlier this month I met with a group of clergy in Northern California and they are very enthusiastic and supportive of all of our work in their communities.
We also are getting a new “How to Get to College” poster printed.
The poster has been updated with new colors and photos reflecting the CSU’s diversity. It also includes more resources to help students get further information. These changes were based on focus groups and feedback from students, teachers, parents and counselors.
I can say with confidence that I am proud of what we are doing in our priority areas of retention, graduation, and transfer rates; and I am proud that we have earned great respect and influence on the national stage.
Chair Carter, that concludes my remarks.