Future of CSU may rest largely on student voters

By John Welty

As the new semester begins, I want to welcome all new and returning students to campus. I also want to acknowledge student concerns regarding the state budget and its impact on higher education access, student fees, and class availability. This is a difficult time in our state's economy and the CSU has been hit hard. We will all need to work together—students, faculty, staff and administrators—to recover from this blow to our campus and community.

The first priority of the administration is to safeguard quality academic instruction on our campus, to preserve our core of academic excellence and to ensure that students are able to get the classes they need in order to graduate in a timely fashion. I am working closely with the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, the University Budget Committee and other constituent groups to address this issue, along with other priorities that will need to be addressed in the weeks ahead.

Beginning July 1, 2004, the CSU system is facing a state budget reduction of approximately $240 million, or 9 percent, and this will have a significant impact on all CSU campuses across our state. On our own campus, if the Governor's proposed budget is passed this summer, it will mean a budget reduction of approximately $11 million for the 2004-2005 academic year.

At this critical time in our state and nation's history, I am also writing this letter to urge all eligible students to register to vote, in the upcoming primary election on March 2. At Fresno State we value civic engagement and encourage our students to participate as fully as possible in the democratic process at election time and throughout the year.

The decision regarding for whom to vote and which issues to support is a personal one, but your decision to vote has a far-ranging effect. For example, this year there are a number of important initiatives on the March 2 primary election ballot that are critical to our state's economy, to the CSU, and to our own campus and region.

The CSU Board of Trustees has endorsed Proposition 55, the K-16 public education facilities bond that will appear on the March ballot, and if it is passed successfully by voters, Fresno State will receive $91 million for the renovation and expansion of the Henry Madden Library. The Library at Fresno State was originally built to serve 13,000 students, and we currently enroll over 22,000 students.

Funds from the successful passage of Proposition 55 will allow us to add 5,000 reader stations, establish state-of-the-art information technology systems, and further develop and integrate library services that are responsive to the needs of our faculty and students. Additional information on how funds from Proposition 55 will impact our state and region is available on the home page of the university's website.

The CSU Board of Trustees has also endorsed Propositions 57 and 58, the Governor's economic recovery bond and the balanced budget initiative. These initiatives will also appear on the March 2 primary election ballot. Proposition 57 calls for the sale of a bond to reduce the overall deficit of the state's general fund, and Proposition 58 would amend the state's Constitution to require that state spending not exceed income in each fiscal year and that a reserve fund be established. These two initiatives must pass together in order for either of them to be implemented.

I encourage you to do your part this year and participate in the democratic process by informing yourselves on the candidates and the issues, and by registering, voting and encouraging others to vote. The deadline to register to vote in the March 2 election is Tuesday, February 17 and information is available online at www.myvotecounts.org or by calling the Fresno County elections office at (559) 488-3246.

I hope you will have a rich and rewarding semester, and I look forward to meeting you on campus during the weeks and months ahead.

— Response to this letter can be sent to collegian@csufresno.edu