This week as I was entering the office building I ran into a friend who is on the staff at CSUSM and who was headed out to the parking lot. After saying hi, we both headed off our opposite directions. But just as we parted, she called out something. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or someone else because I was certain that she said, “keep on clogging.” A couple of beats later, I realized she was saying, “keep on blogging.” (Sorry Joanne for the confusion.)
I have to admit it is a challenge to “keep on blogging” much less take up clogging especially this semester. (Although clogging would provide diversion on furlough days.) There are a lot of things that can’t go in a blog that’s for sure–things people tell you in confidence, interesting but often unfounded rumors, and other things that fall outside of any categorization. Keeping up with schoolwork has been hard and I’ve acquired a new committee assignment and realized that I was elected to another committee last year when I was on leave without knowing I was even running for it. Sandwiching in the students during the non-furlough days makes for even longer workdays. It is impossible to turn them away—how can you tell a student who earnestly wants help they can only have 90% your time now?
We are now almost one-third the way through the term and the wear and tear of the shortened workweeks are apparent. We had a department meeting on Friday and everyone looked horrible. I guess no one seems to be sleeping in on furlough days. In fact, I’ve heard that with all of the chaos and uncertainty most people aren’t sleeping at all.
How are the students fairing? It is kind of hard to say. The undergraduates seem to be in a daze—more so than is usual for this time of the semester when the first assignments are due. New students always have problems adjusting but the furloughs only confuse them more. Some (returning and new students) still haven’t figured out that staff furlough Fridays doesn’t mean that the faculty are also furloughed. So there are a few students who have only come to my Friday class for a total of two weeks or so.
When I’ve asked students how the furloughs have impacted them, some have shrugged and said that they haven’t noticed it much. Others were vocal about their dissatisfaction and one student even said that she planned on asking for 10% of her fees back. Overall, the two biggest complaints from students are not about how furloughs have impacted their classes but that the library isn’t open enough and that it is hard to get food. I think the focus of the hungry young scholars’ complaints indicate that most faculty are working hard to make sure that their education remains the paramount focus. But it is undeniable that the furloughs have impacted the university adversely. Classes and office hours are cancelled here and there. It is nearly impossible to set up meetings between faculty. There is no routine that can be followed. If we have an influenza outbreak combined with one of our enormous California Wildfires, I’m not sure what we could do.
The graduate students in our program have taken the cuts very seriously; many want to pursue careers in higher education and have realized that the declining commitment to education will impact their goals. Some are bitter—I’ve seen that happen to people even in good times; others remain hopeful that the economy will turn around and that somehow President Obama with his stated commitment to higher education will rescue us. A bailout for higher education?
Our system isn’t the only one that is shrinking—even the Ivy Leagues are on the ropes thanks to the financial downturn. But state universities are taking the hardest hits. In our case it costs, from what I can tell, $15,000 to educate a CSU student. They pay about $5,000 of that in fees—the state has footed the other two-thirds of the bill. Most of our students would be priced out of their education quickly if the state withdraws much more public support. University education would become the domain of only those who could afford to pay now what would be tuition at a private school.
The students have started a campaign called “SAVE CSUSM” and they are collecting signatures on petitions and holding meetings to protest state cuts to education, the fee raises, and the campus proposal that the tenure line faculty should take on a heavier course load beginning in the spring. All threaten student access to quality education. The student government passed a resolution in the same spirit. Many were shocked to hear that the CSU will be cutting enrollment throughout the system by 40,000 students next year. They are thinking, “that could have been me.”
For each student turned away, there will be an even bigger tax on California’s private citizens and businesses. The CSU produces most of the state’s teachers, many of the state’s nurses as well as some of California’s best doctors, lawyers, and public servants. Investing in them pays off. Citizens who would never set foot on a CSU campus benefit both directly and indirectly from the educational opportunities offered by the CSU. But now we hear that next year campuses will cut programs and majors and layoff faculty while possibly increasing student fees yet again.
So I’ll end this entry by asking, if anyone is out there reading, how have the cuts to the CSU impacted you so far? I encourage you to leave a comment on the blog for others to hear about your experience.
past2present 