Cornerstones is animated by the conviction that a fundamentally healthy university is in the best possible position to examine itself, propose new directions, and shape a future which will better serve the people of California. The Cornerstones Policy Goals and Principles have one continuing theme: We all share responsibility for a great public resource. The California State University enjoys the strong support of the state, the loyalty of California's people, the professional commitments of a talented faculty, staff, and administration and the daily engagement of an intelligent and imaginative student body. Indeed, California's economic and social health is tied increasingly to CSU's expertise and performance.

Cornerstones depends on each member of the CSU community to play a role in determining the university's future. We will maintain both educational excellence and access through a program of shared responsibility. The following outline summarizes the fundamental policy framework which characterizes this report.

A. Future resources needed to maintain quality, access, and productivity:

* appropriate public support for enrollment growth
* capital investment, both infrastructure and technology
* faculty reinvestment and development
* competitive increases in faculty and staff salaries
* plant maintenance and improvement
* funding for financial aid to ensure access to needy qualified students


B. What the University faculty and administration will do to maintain their public responsibilities:

* Provide access to the growing population seeking higher education.
* Increase productivity as part of a long-term plan to maintain quality and access, through a variety of financing and accountability strategies, designed to share responsibility for the future among the members of the university community.
* Increase learning productivity through reduced time-to-degree, more efficient use of campuses, and greater student access to program services.
* Eliminate redundant and/or unneeded low enrollment programs.
* Encourage program consolidation and cross-campus sharing to preserve essential low-enrollment programs.
* Reduce need for remediation.
* Reduce administrative costs.
* Reinvest significantly in faculty, through a faculty development and reinvestment program that protects the core resources and ensures additional resources for faculty development and learning.
* Increase investment in educational technology to enhance teaching and learning, and prospects for effective distance education.
* Increase scheduling and programming flexibility, course availability and continuing education opportunities.
* Focus on continuous quality improvement, through a system of performance accountability that sharpens focus on goals and performance.
* Demonstrate public accountability for results through a series of annual reports and a streamlined regulatory system.


C. What the University will ask from students:

* Support for long-term stable financing of educational quality, including predictable fees increases, accompanied by adequate financial aid.
* Development of an individual learning proposal for each student.
* More use of student counseling and advising services.
* Increased participation in academic program development and assessment.
* Increased involvement in all forms of active learning.
* A commitment to the values of civic life and reasoned debate.
* A commitment to welcome the differences of opinion and perspective which best animates a healthy intellectual and social community.


D. What the University will ask from the state:

* Funding for enrollment growth.
* Reasonable and predictable base budget increases beyond inflation rates.
* Funding increases for competitive faculty and staff salaries.
* Reform of the Capital Outlay budget to remove distinctions between operating and capital funds for technology.
* Reform of state financial aid programs to provide increased funding for programs serving the financially disadvantaged, and for post-baccalaureate study.
* Support for a streamlined system of public accountability and reduced bureaucratic controls.
* Support for capital investment in both infrastructure and technology.


E. What the State of California will achieve within this framework:

* Protect future access to high quality, teaching-centered collegiate education.
* Maintain and strengthen the faculty for the future.
* Clear standards of demonstrated learning.
* Protect comprehensive curricula.
* Maintain access through affordable fees and available aid.
* Flexible, student-centered learning environment.
* No traditional new campuses, but greater access through cross-campus consortia and distance education.
* Graduate and continuing education programs attuned to changing professional and economic needs of Californians.
* The university's continued contribution to the state's civic, economic, and cultural life, both through our graduates and through our service.
* A more competent and thoughtful citizenry, empowered to work effectively in the new economy and participate generously in a multicultural democracy.
* The continued generation of new knowledge and insight, both cultural and technical, without which a complex society cannot thrive.
* Strengthened public communication about university performance.
* Greater public accountability for institutional effectiveness, including student learning outcomes, as well as contributions to the economy, the culture and civic life.

Cornerstones is a plan, then, about how we work in support of our students, our State, and a future we share. It calls for both continuity and creativity. We must continue doing what we do superbly well--in the classrooms and laboratories and libraries--and push ourselves beyond the most comfortable parts of our traditions. The best parts of those traditions are, after all, the moments of change and innovation and the unsettled search for new answers.