Lack of sufficient funding and inadequate resources are the major problems plaguing the California State University system, panel members concluded during the 13th Annual Academic Retreat held Thursday at the Long Beach Airport Marriott.

During the half-day event, approximately 120 attendees brainstormed possible measures needed to fulfill the academic goals established by the Chancellor's Office in "The Cornerstones Report."

Chancellor Barry Munitz, along with the help of about two dozen others, authored the report in August to help ensure continued academic success for the CSU system into the next millennium.

The report highlighted four main keys to success:

* Continuing to provide educational excellence.

* Growing number of Californians must be able to gain access to higher education.

* The CSU system must have financial stability to anchor its future plans.

* Individual campuses must be sensitive to the needs of their communities.

Master of ceremonies David Hood, CSULB Academic Senate Chair, spoke strongly about the need for changes in the CSU system.

"We can't expect faculty to do research with antiquated equipment," Hood said.

Hood also expressed frustration with the California legislators who insufficiently fund the system.

"If legislators want to see an increase in the quality of our graduates, perhaps they should consider raising the quality of the students we admit and giving us better equipment to educate them with," Hood said. Chemistry professor Margaret Marryfield said, "I would like to go to class without even thinking about the facilities. I don't want to have to worry about ceiling tiles falling on my head."

Psychologist Carrie Jo Johnson added, "There is tremendous interest in replacing retiring professors with new faculty with no experience. But there aren't steps taken to incorporate the new professors into the system."

The California Education Technology Initiative is a major effort to better equip CSU classrooms and faculty, said Gerry Hanley, Director of Faculty Development Center. "We're in the phase of developing principles of negotiation. It's going to be very difficult to coordinate this."

Companies, including GTE, Microsoft, and Fujitsu, will sell products to the CSU system at a discounted rate.

Several faculty members highlighted their use of technology. Art professor Julia Van Camp demonstrated a slide show featuring the web site she designed as supplemental instruction for a course she teaches.

"Technology is great. For example, students who are afraid to speak out in class, or are too intimidated to come to your office, donĠt have any problems sending you e-mail," Van Camp said.

Beth Ambos, geological sciences, and Dave Kumrow, nursing, also displayed similar web sites.

Karl Anatol, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, said that the CSULB reaction to the report will be sent to the Chancellor's Office on Nov. 10. The proposal will then be sent to the Board of Trustees to be ratified as a directive to guide the CSU system into the 21st century.

President Robert Maxson said, "I hope we're smart enough to realize how to achieve our goals, and I hope weĠre aggressive enough to pull it off."