The CSU Board of Trustees met in regular session
at system headquarters in Long Beach on July 18 and 19, 2000. The new
student trustee Dan Cartwright (CSU Stanislaus) was introduced at
his first board meeting, and resolutions of appreciation were passed
for Trustees Emeriti Joan Otomo-Corgel and Michael Stennis, for President
Emeritus of CSU San Bernardino Tony Evans, for Interim President of CSU
Northridge Louanne Kennedy, and for the immediate past chair of the State
Student Association, Stephanie Rahlfs. The new Executive committee of
the Academic Senate, CSU was introduced as was the new Executive
Committee of CSSA, under Chair Shaun Lumachi (CSU Sacramento). Alumni
Trustee Fred Pierce has been reappointed to a second two year term.
Following are some of the major items considered at the meeting.
The Committee on Finance heard that the 2000-2001
budget is an excellent one for CSU and the Partnership among CSU, UC,
and the Governor assures stable funding for the next three years.
Increased enrollment of 4.5% (12,600 FTES, equivalent to one medium
sized campus) is expected, and increases of this magnitude are
expected each year during the next decade or so. Planning for this
enrollment increase is the major challenge facing CSU. The budget
funds a compensation pool that includes an average of a 6% increase
for all employees.
The Committee on Campus Planning, Buildings, and
Grounds approved revised Master Plans and Environmental Impact
Reports for CPSU Pomona and CSU Channel Islands and received the
Draft 5-year Capital Improvement Program for 2001 through 2006.
The Committee on University and Faculty Personnel approved increases
in Executive Compensation for System Officers and Campus Presidents averaging
about 5%. Current average salary for presidents is about $197,000/y.
As of July 1, 2000 the average will be about $207,000/y which is
about 3% less than the average for Presidents in the comparison
institution group (the same group upon which calculations of the
faculty salary gap are based). In the interest of full disclosure I
will tell you that I voted to support these increases.
The Committee on Collective Bargaining approved ratification of
agreements with Units 1,6,8, and 10; the agreement with employees
represented by CSEA is contingent on approval by the membership which
is currently underway. Representatives of several employee organizations
were complimentary about their bargaining processes and their results, but the
representative for Student Service personnel was concerned about the
slowness of their bargaining process.
The Committee on Educational Policy, now Chaired by Board Vice Chair
Dee Dee Myers, took action on four items which revised Title 5. The
first will allow Community College students to transfer up to 6 semester
units in teacher preparation courses, up from the 3 units currently allowed.
The second makes uniform the GPA required for admission to teacher
preparation programs in the CSU. The policy still includes the up to
15% of exceptions allowed in the present policy. The third will base,
starting in 2004, the GPA calculation for freshmen entering the CSU
only on the college preparatory courses they take in their final 3
high school years. The fourth reduces the minimum number of units
required in a baccalaureate degree program from 124 to 120 semester
units. Baccalaureate unit requirements will continue to be
reviewed on campuses by the faculty in the course ofregularly
scheduled program reviews.
In the closing public comments CFA President Susan Meisenhelder commented
on the decision of CSU management and CFA to go to impasse on salary bargaining for
2000-2001 and commented on a study done for CFA which she claimed
indicates that merit pay increases are going disproportionately to
male faculty. She asked for a moratorium on the FMI program. |