Report of the Chair

The first chair of the Board of Trustees, Louis Heilbron, died in December at age 99. Mr. Heilbron, appointed to the board by Gov. Pat Brown, was a champion of the Master Plan for Higher Education. Beginning in 1960, the trustees oversaw a 15-campus system of state colleges. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Heilbron in 2006, and he was still a strong advocate for our system of public higher education. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, February 13 at 4 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco.

Sadly, I report that Chico professor Paul Persons died last week. He had been a faculty member at Chico since 1979 and was a member of the statewide Academic Senate executive committee. While I was a law instructor at the school of law at the New College of California in San Francisco, Paul was one of my students. In addition, several years ago, Trustee Bob Linscheid was a student under Paul Persons’ instruction. Paul was a passionate teacher and a champion for civility. As an attorney he was staunch advocate for civil rights. He served as a pre-law advisor in the political science department at Chico and in 1998 won recognition as the Outstanding Academic Advisor. I ask for a moment of silence in tribute to Paul Persons.

While the Governor’s Budget provided some funding beyond the Compact which is appreciated, it did not include all of the components of the Trustees’ Budget. Because the additional funds for compensation are needed to address the salary lag of our employees, it was disappointing that funding was not provided. I want to assure our students and CSU employees that the trustees and the administration will continue to advocate for the Trustees’ Budget.

The Trustees Selection Committee and the Advisory Committee held its organizational meeting on January 19. The search will continue into the spring and, if it progresses on the normal path, we should have a selection in May.

Congratulations to San José State and its Spartans football team for winning the inaugural “New Mexico Bowl” game played in late December in Albuquerque. For the Spartans, the win provided a final highlight to a season in which they won more games than they had in the three previous seasons combined. Good coaching and good teamwork prevails.

Congratulations to CSUEU and management on the new labor agreement that was ratified by the Committee on Collective Bargaining on January 16. In addition, the Head Start employees at San Francisco State, represented by SIEU, had their contract ratified as well.

Every January, the board chair is required by our Rules of Procedure to nominate five trustees to serve on the Committee on Committees. This committee nominates the board chair, vice chair, CPEC representative and members of the standing committees. I nominate Debra Farar as committee chair, and trustees Jeff Bleich, Herb Carter, Melinda Guzman and Bill Hauck to serve on the Committee on Committees. A vote to approve the committee will be taken at the March meeting of this board.

That concludes my report.