Thank you once again for having me, and all the work you do for students. The role of staff is often underestimated, and I do not underestimate your importance to this institution.
The Foundation held a meeting this week which discussed the investment policy on the campus, in the past we haven’t had a spending plan. There is an approximately $27 million endowment in the Foundation. That is a good number, in the past due to budget constraints, 2-3% of endowments were returned to the campus in the form of scholarships, fellowships, staff improvement funds, campus initiatives, and specific endowments from donors. A revised number of 4.5% will be returned to the scholarship funds, including $600,000 support for campus initiatives. It will be implemented 4/1/06, which will give $300,000 this fiscal year to scholarships and initiatives. I hope it will have a positive impact on programs as we work on growing the endowment.
We had a successful trip to Washington D.C. ; the port security issue was very hot at that time. Many issues are involved. We had grants related to port security that have been elevated. Language issues have not been affectively addressed at all, language development programs are being developed in multiple languages. Some funds will be one-time and some an increase to the base budget.
I went to Anaheim last time, to the Big West Tourney; men’s basketball won 94-91 a very exciting game. March madness is a basketball term. There are six organizations in D.C. that represent higher education. ACE (one of the six) is beginning a new marketing program, which will highlight the social benefit of educating our students and the spill over to all of society. There will be an advertisement blitz during March Madness on the new program. It is ironic that a collegiate sport is the medium to get the awareness out.
Bids coming in the for the library $31 million project at the end of the month.
Question/Answers
Q: I heard through a colleague in Fullerton , that we will be offering a doctorate degree?
A: Currently it is a joint program with UCI, it was a compromise. What this does for us is create the first independent doctorate in the history of the CSU; we are 1 of 7 pilot campuses. The degree will say CSULB. Two sections: Education administration and leadership preschool-12; higher education, community college leadership/finance/law/counseling/student affairs. Fall 2007 it begins.
After a brief discussion of attire, VP Robinson spoke to the group. J
Thank you for inviting me to speak. I recognize many of you and also work with many of you as well. I sit through many long meetings with Charleen Rice including the Campus Goals meetings, and she represents you very well. Carol Riley also represents you well as a member of the Forty-Niner Shops Board of Directors, and Pat West is serving as staff representative to the AD search committee; she too is a strong voice for staff.
Counseling’s long time director Clyde Crego retired last year. This was a very difficult position to fill. He was always so helpful and gracious in assisting with so many campus issues. We are pleased to have Mary Ann Takemoto in the position; we stole her from UCI.
Career Development Center has a new director, Manuel Perez, from Cal Poly Pomona; he is doing a very good job as well.
Jeff Klaus, a former staff council representative, was promoted to director of Student Life & Development. He reminds me of Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver … I always wonder what he’s up to when I’m not watching!
Alan Nishio, Associate Vice President, is retiring this summer. What an impact Alan has had on our institution and within our community as well as in the external community representing this university. An on-campus search will be conducted to select an interim AVP; and then we will conduct a national search for his permanent replacement next year.
ASI elections last year were very interesting. Some people addressed each other and the process in a very uncivil manner. As a result, during the upcoming elections scheduled for March 27-29, we are bringing in additional security, and extra staff to assist us; we are bringing in poll workers from the city, to ensure that no duplicate voting takes place. The system last year was ineffective in addressing this issue, and as a result, several students did vote more than once. No outcomes were affected, but it was very disappointing to see this happen at our campus. Newspapers were also removed from news racks because some individuals didn’t like what was written about their candidate. I hope these measures are only temporary. A campus notice is going out this afternoon stating that anyone caught removing posters, or illegally removing newspapers from the racks will be suspended. We’ve already have had one incident on the first day of campaigning. Posters for one candidate were removed/destroyed. The notice will be placed in the two campus newspapers and posted in various locations around campus.
I received a note from a faculty member that there is a rumor circulating around campus that the student centers located in the F0 area are going to be shut down. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are no plans to close any of the centers.
There has also been a lot of discussion about the 22 acres. President Maxson decided during his tenure that nothing would be done with that property. Upon his departure, someone from off campus wrote a resolution and gave it to a student to bring up in the ASI Senate and that started the discussion. Rumor was that Housing was going to build dorms on the property, this is not true. We do have plans, but they involve the existing property and buildings.
Underage drinking on campus is a problem. We have a three step program in place at our campus when students are caught drinking in the residence halls. The first step requires students to attend a three hour educational program conducted through the Student Health Center . The same policy is in place for anyone caught smoking marijuana in the halls as well. By the way, Long Beach was the only CSU campus that was successful in implementing a program to contact the parents of underage drinkers. Step two in the process requires repeat offenders to see one of our Psychologists in Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS). At step three in the process offenders are referred to Judicial Affairs for disciplinary action, and are typically asked to vacate the halls. On several occasions during the year, we send out letters to students encouraging them to have a safe experience during the year and during spring break.
AD Search – during the last process we had several good candidates. The person we offered the job to visited the campus, and everyone liked him, but he wanted to be paid more than the President!
Questions/Answers
Q: As far as the AD position you are doing a new search?
A: We are beginning a new search next week, a new member has been added to the committee … the president … and he has to protect me from Pat West!! J
We have a wonderful culture here and great facilities; we don’t have a football team, which helps the budget. The consultant we have hired is highly regarded.
Next week we select a group of candidates to interview.
Q: Scholar athletics could you discuss?
A: A female golfer, and a men’s VB player, were recognized by the Big West
The President added, the APRs (Academic Progress Ratings), were released, 64 universities and 99 different programs were penalized and loss scholarships, effectively put on probation. We were fine, many California programs did not fair as well. It shows that our program is solid. Murray State , for example, lost 7 scholarships. We are doing the right thing here.
Q: When do election signs go up?
A: They are up now, and they will not be using the turnaround.
Q: Aaron, USU is offering a compliment to the alcohol programs, ASI has upcoming programs to have late nights at the USU, and many students are passionate about the programs.
A: The Chancellor issued an Executive Order to prohibit alcohol from being served at our athletic events, in CSU owned facilities. No alcohol will be sold at the Pyramid during college sponsored events; however, Blair Field is not affected by the Executive Order because we do not own that facility. Also, outside programs held at the Pyramid are not affected, such as the summer pro league.
The President added that he wanted to emphasize that we are very serious about this ASI election issue. Aron mentioned please bring to our attention any improprieties that you may notice or witness.
