Summer courses face cuts
By REBECCA MARTIN
Significant cuts will be made to summer school courses scheduled to start later this month due an agreement between the university and the California Faculty Association.
According to a university statement, the school will be forced to reduce courses because the CFA has required a new pay schedule to be utilized this summer.
An arbitrator between the CFA and the CSU chancellor’s office could be the reason behind the cuts, Jennifer Reimer, Associated Students president-elect said.
Reimer said the ruling of the arbitrator required the university to pay tenured professors more money over the summer, which made it expensive for the school to offer all the planned courses.
The effect of the cuts will be significant, Reimer said. She said students with a few classes left are more likely to be affected by the cuts because it could delay their graduation date.
Robert Merrill, president of the Fresno chapter of CFA, said both the CSU chancellor’s office and the university budget committee at Fresno State have known about the changes in budgets since September 2003. It was at that time that the new agreements for faculty pay were made, Merrill said.
“Maybe the administration was hoping they could get by,” Merrill said, “but then the chancellor’s office said no.”
Merrill said CFA has been trying since last weekend to think of an alternative plan to cutting summer school classes. The alternative plan, Merrill said, may lie in budget reserve money Fresno State already has.
Year-round operation funds from the state budget have not been used by the university programs yet and could be used to fund additional summer school classes, Merrill said.
Budget book figures, which are public record, are maintained by the Academic Senate. Merrill said there is “more than enough money to offer summer school.”
He said the most unfortunate part of the arbitrary agreement is that students are suffering because of the budget.
“I’ve always been proud that the CFA has tried to keep costs low,” Merrill said. “And any time they could keep costs low, they would. Right now, it’s about trying to keep the administration honest.”
It is unknown as to the number of classes that will be cut, but in an interview with the Fresno Bee, geography professor James Kus said as many as two-thirds to three-fourths of the classes could be eliminated.
International students, especially, are at risk of being affected by the cuts.
International students often stay in Fresno over the summer to take classes, said Associated Students senator-at-large-elect Juan Pablo Moncayo, an international student from Ecuador.
During the summer term, class units are priced the same for international students and resident students. But during the school year, international students have to pay out-of-state fees. Because of this, many international students take advantage of the low summer fees and take extra units.
Moncayo said he is planning to take classes over the summer not only because he is an international student, but also because he is intending to graduate in May 2006.
He is planning on taking six units over the summer in order to decrease the number of units he has left to graduate. He said without the six units, his plans to graduate in 2006 may be put in jeopardy.
Moncayo also said international students should find alternatives to the situation.
“I’m hoping most people will choose another college this summer,” Moncayo said, recommending neighboring junior colleges like Fresno City College and College of the Sequioas in Visalia. “It changes everyone’s plans.”
It is unknown which classes will be offered for the summer semester, Fabiola Alvarez, an administrative assistant at the office, said.
An e-mail sent out April 30 from the office of the provost and vice president for academic affairs said the school’s goal is to “retain as many sections of ‘core’ courses as possible.”
The highest priority, according to the e-mail, will be given to upper division classes and general education courses.
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