CSSA Minutes: November 2, 2002

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
California State University, Fresno,
University Student Union, Room 312 - 314
November 2, 2002, 9:00 - Noon

CALL TO ORDER 9:07 am, Chair Artemio Pimentel.
ROLL CALL Present: Bakersfield, Chico, Dominguez Hills (by proxy held by Sacramento), Fresno, Hayward, Humboldt, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Monterey Bay, Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, San Marcos, Sonoma, Stanislaus. Fullerton seconds late.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA. Motion by San Diego, second by San Marcos. PASSED.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES. Motion to approve minutes from October 2002 by San Diego, Second by San Marcos. MOTION PASSED.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
1. Dr. John D. Welty, President, CSU Fresno. President Welty welcomed CSSA and thanked its student leaders for their service to their campuses. He said the CSU is being challenged in its commitment to access; honoring the commitment will take compromise and balance. He urged everyone to vote on November 5th. He mentioned Fresno’s Honors College, with 75 students chosen for their academic and service excellence. He encourages all students to do service to their communities and noted that students from his campus have donated 800,000 hours of service to theirs. He touched upon the campus’s new state crime lab, Science II building and events center.
2. Dr. Paul Oliaro, Vice President, Student Affairs, CSU Fresno. Dr. Oliaro has only been in his job for 2 months; he came from Pennsylvania, where university paychecks are imprinted, “We exist to serve students.” He challenged CSSA to be leaders who are also learners.
3. Dr. Les Pincu, Statewide Academic Senate. Dr. Pincu stated CSSA is a major player in shared governance. He introduced Dr. Bill Fasse, Chair, CSU Fresno Academic Senate.
4. Dr. Debra S. Farar, Chair CSU Board of Trustees. Dr. Farar came to discuss shared governance. She said she pays close attention to CSSA’s schedule and is also a parent, which keeps her mindful of the reason for the Board of Trustees. She would like her legacy to include efforts to realize shared governance. She needs to hear from CSSA and invited board members to call or email her. She said polite nagging is the best way to get things done. She asked CSSA to identify where breakdowns in communication occur. Bruce Wolfe said CSSA would like to see more equity on committees, more consultation. Trustee Farar said the Board of Trustees doesn’t always communicate all the input it receives from students but that it will start doing so. Erik Fallis said shared governance is applied differently at different campuses. He said there’s an amazing effort on his campus to include students. He asked whether the Board of Trustees is considering standardizing the ways in which shared governance is implemented. Trustee Farar responded the Board does not want to micromanage. She said student input is sought in presidential evaluations. Priscilla Ocen asked about enrollment management as a breakdown in shared governance. Trustee Farar said an unintended consequence of enrollment management practices at San Diego State University has been that minorities and underrepresented populations have been left out at the point when the “local” standard was applied. Trustee Farar commented, with regard to the October 31st Board of Trustees meeting and the discussion about budgeting the bargained increase for faculty, that her 1st choice for using a windfall would be to pay faculty. Trustee Farar talked about how she became involved in higher education issues for Governor Davis, through her husband’s involvement with the Democratic party. She was the 1st person to attend college in her family. She could attend CSU Northridge if she worked part time and lived at home. Because she was able to afford a BA and MA from CSUN, she found herself in a position to be able to earn a doctorate (Ed.D.). She said the CSU represents opportunity, but you have to be able to visualize that opportunity. She characterized the Board of Trustees as neither political nor polarized, as is the UC Board of Regents. You have to have a unified message and not be at odds. She said she is worried about the huge tide of coming students and how the CSU will maintain access. Danny Vivian asked about student fees; Trustee Farar said she anticipates discussion of increases but can’t see that happening with Governor Davis and doesn’t foresee it at this point. Caitlin Gill said there are only 16,000 Cal Grants for 400,000 CSU students.Trustee Farar said outreach in key, getting the word out to middle schools about the steps to start taking now.
ACTION ITEM - APPROVAL OF AD HOC COMMITTEES

Motion to form two ad-hoc committees, Working Students Initiative and Policies & Procedures, made by San Diego, seconded by San Marcos. Discussion: Membership on the Policies and Procedures Ad Hoc Committee will be Marivic Tolentino, Roland Johnson, Bruce Wolfe, Dave Riesenfeld, Cindi Newbold and Priscilla Ocen. Membership on the Working Students Initiatives committee will be Carlos Illingworth, Eric Guerra, Caitlin Gill, Glay Glay, Erene Thomas, Alex Lopez, Ruth Christensen. MOTION PASSED
SPECIAL OFFICER REPORTS
1. Peter Ucovich, Academic Senate Liaison. Peter will attend his 1st meeting this Wednesday.
2. Cindi Newbold, Alumni Council Liaison. Cindi is in touch with Dan MacKenzie and they have made strides to move our relationship forward. They are hoping to have a stronger presence at CHESS than just a reception. The Alumni Council is still working on Article 15 of its constitution; a sticking point is recognizing more than one alumni group from each campus.
3. Dave Riesenfeld, Environmental Affairs. Dave was not present to report but Artemio Pimentel conveyed information from Dave regarding COUGH. Humboldt has written a resolution and the campus will vote whether to restrict or outlaw smoking on campus altogether. Bruce Wolfe commented on Lt. Gov Bustamante’s strong statement at a recent Board of Trustees meeting about the CSU completely divesting itself of tobacco holdings. Bruce urged all ASIs to divest.
4. Caitlin Gill, Financial Aid. Caitlin has a cell phone – 707/834-4994! No one received her recent written report (and she didn’t know no one did because of her email problems), because the Chancellor’s Office couldn’t open the document she sent. The last meeting Caitlin attended was a presentation from each segment (UC, CCC, private schools) re Cal Grants. Caitlin has 2 weeks to voice suggestions, so please contact her re your suggestions to do with Cal Grants and Cal Grants delivery.
5. Carrie Drouin, Lobby Corps. Carrie said the Lobby Corps Clinic is only 20 days away and there aren’t many registrations yet. Also, only 2 campuses submitted changes to the bylaws.
6. Eric Guerra, Technology. Next meeting of the Academic Technology Advisory Council will be November 16th.
STUDENT TRUSTEES REPORTS
1. Erene Thomas. Erene thanks student body president Ryan Jacobsen and campus president Dr. Welty for making her campus visit so enjoyable and informative. She commented that the campus is a beautiful one and also one that demands students participate. She says she hears all the time on campus visits about how hard it is to get students to fill committee seats. Erene reported on the Board of Trustees meeting on October 31st and on the budget, noting that CSU is being funded only for a 5% enrollment increase, whereas it experienced a 7.5% rise. She talked about the defeat of an amendment to include faculty increases in a protected portion of the budget and, in response to a question from Panna Sharma, said she thought a student fee increase unlikely but couldn’t guarantee it won’t happen.
2. Alex Lopez. Alex also remarked the gloomy funding outlook and the fact that 18,000 new students were added this year, with 3,000 of those unfunded. He noted the October 12th issue of Time included a story on remediation in higher education and related a survey among 6 of his friends: 4 were required to take remediation and 3 of them have 3.0+ GPAs today. Eric Guerra asked if remediation will be affected by lack of funds. Artemio said enrollment management was the control there. Erene said that the 11th grade test is an effort to put remediation in senior year and get the university out of the business of remediating deficiencies. In response to Roland Johnson’s question, Erene said yes, it would be another test, 1 more added to many, but it will be at about the same time as the others and will serve as an admissions bar. Bruce commented that the Board of Trustees also passed the lottery budget on the 31st, and $30M of the whole budget of $35M goes to student services. There was discussion of Dr. Reed’s directive to campuses to meet their enrollment targets on the nose.
OFFICER OF THE CHANCELLOR LIAISONS’ REPORTS
1. Alan Liebrecht, CSU Liaison to CSSA. Alan said he was working with Joan Hemphill to improve the process of selecting student representatives to systemwide committees, putting them in place and arranging/reimbursing their travel expenses. All names CSSA nominated have been sent to their respective committees. He said that with regard to the budget, the state is in deficit. Enrollment management issues are related to budget strictures.
2. Christy Zamani, CSU Student Relations Representative, was not present to report.
EXECUTIVE OFFICER REPORTS
1. Artemio Pimentel, Chair. Artemio said he was committed to making himself accessible. There will be a biweekly conference call, and everyone can participate.
2. Marivic Tolentino, Internal Vice Chair. Marivic will review the budget (Tab 4) tomorrow. Maritime Academy, Pomona and San Luis Obispo are the only non dues paying campuses, the only campuses with no vote this weekend.
3. José Solache, External Vice Chair. Not present to report.
4. Danny Vivian, Chair, University Affairs Committee. No report
5. Fay Roepcke, Speaker, Multicultural Caucus. There will be a presentation every other month in MCC; this month Caitlin is doing a presentation. MCC and University Affairs are in the process of planning the retention conference.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT
1. Susana Gonzalez. Susana introduced Joan Hemphill, who gave a very brief overview of the Campus Resource and Service Center, available from the main menu at www.csustudents.org.
SYSTEMWIDE COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Jimmy Reed, Task Force on Facilitating Graduation. Next and last meeting is November 22nd, at which time the white paper which the committee was charged to produce will be finalized.
2. Bruce Wolfe, Services to Students with Disabilities. The next meeting of this committee is also November 22nd. Anyone may attend via teleconference. Contact Bruce with any matter within the committee’s charge.
CLOSING REMARKS

Priscilla distributed copies of her ASI newsletter, “The Voice of State.” Carlos announced that Governor Davis will be at his campus November 4th, 5-6 pm.

Adjournment moved by Stanislaus, seconded by Chico, 11:05 am. PASSED.