DECLARE for The Beach

Last week, CSULB launched the public and final phase of its first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. About $200 million has already been donated to DECLARE: The Campaign for CSULB, and we are in a final push to raise an additional $25 million by December 31, 2015, to reach our total campaign goal of $225 million. I had the pleasure and privilege of addressing a group of campus and community members who gathered on October 11 for the official campaign kick-off; what follows is a shortened version of those remarks.

Our university has achieved great things because it has embraced great challenges. We challenge ourselves, for example, to seek out promising students who face educational, cultural, financial, physical, or personal barriers. And then, once they are here, we challenge ourselves again to create the kinds of environments, conditions, incentives, and experiences that will push them to do better — not only for themselves, but also for their communities, for our region, for our state, and for our world.

We are committed to pushing this institution forward, too. For those of us who are faculty or staff members, this means, in part, building on the momentum that was established over the past decade through innovative and effective student-success initiatives.

It is a big job, but we are a big university. Big in size and big in spirit. We know that we must continue moving forward or risk falling irreversibly behind. And that is where DECLARE: The Campaign for CSULB comes in.

Reaching our campaign goals will give us the ability to provide more students with an even richer educational experience. It will help assure student success now and in the future. In the end, the campaign is about our students, and it’s about the countless people and organizations in our region — and beyond — who will ultimately benefit from their work and service.

So, how do we get from here to there?

Well, we’ll need a roadmap. Guideposts. These can be found in our campaign pillars. Our campaign pillars reflect the values and focus of the university as a whole:

• Transformation encompasses programmatic (teaching, service, and research) innovation, some capital projects, and other long-term growth opportunities.
• Unequaled Access means breaking down barriers (learning, financial, and otherwise) to ensure that our students are successful in their academic and life pursuits.
• A Greater Community includes partnerships and capital projects that benefit both campus and community.

As this effort gets underway, it’s vital that we have a clear understanding of who we are and where we’re headed as a university — what makes us special, even unique. Here, we believe that the measure of a great university is not the test scores, income, or awards of the students it takes in — but the quality of the students it turns out.

Let me speak plainly.  More often than not, we help our students beat the odds.  Many come here as first-generation college students, as “non-traditional” or “underserved” college students.  Some from high schools that did not prepare them adequately for university work.  Our students are all very smart but some carry heavy economic burdens.  Over the course of their college careers, these young people work with dedicated, energetic faculty, staff, and administrators whose absolute top priority is their success.  I think it’s important to note that, to us, student success means, in part, ensuring that our graduates are burdened with no — or minimal — student debt.

As a result, Long Beach State students are transformed by their Beach experience, and they go on, as alumni, to do extraordinary things in their communities and workplaces — making life better for all of us.

Think of all we’ve achieved — all our students and alumni have achieved — over the past 65 years.  And now imagine the possibilities if we can really leverage the power of philanthropy over the course of the next 65 years.

Together, we can prepare students from diverse backgrounds to move into their careers of choice and into professions that may not yet exist.  To contribute innovative solutions to global and local problems.  To engage with and improve our local community and communities around the world.  To create and enjoy artistic and cultural resources.  To serve as informed, insightful leaders and to understand and actively participate in our country’s democratic processes.  Our work is the real definition of nation building.

Bottom line, private funding is the difference maker on today’s college campuses.  It’s the way forward for our institution and for this community.  It’s what is driving us to DECLARE.

That’s a pretty good rationale for our first major fundraising campaign, don’t you think?