After attending one of the University’s town hall discussions on becoming a STEM- (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) centered institution, I feel that the only thing cleared up was the writing on the wall. The question-no-answer format was slightly less than illuminating—however, the attempt was simply to collect a sample of public opinion, which was little more than an assortment of talking points, to be disseminated in a way which is to be determined sometime in the near future.

This reminds me of when I lived in Seattle, Washington during the unceremonious relocation of the city’s NBA franchise, the Seattle Supersonics. After almost a decade of lackluster performance, which, if you had asked any true Sonics fan, was the result of mismanagement, the once-storied team had fallen on hard times. The ownership was in constant conflict with the city over needed renovations to the team’s home Key Arena, and the fan base was distracted by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, who were, at the time, a Super Bowl-caliber team. Subsequently, the New Orleans Hornets’ season-and-a-half exile to Oklahoma City due to Hurricane Katrina had been surprisingly well attended by the locals.

This is why it became exceedingly obvious to me and anyone else with half a brain that our beloved “Supes” would soon be leaving when Clay Bennett, a businessman from Oklahoma City, bought the team in 2006. Despite all the urging and false promises of the team’s new ownership, the Oklahoma City Thunder took the court less than two years later. So please don’t tell me it’s raining when I can see that the sun is shining—I have a little experience in knowing a sea change when it is on the horizon.

As a graduate student in the Social Sciences, I know what the job market is like for someone with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from (insert geographic region here) University. I also realize the importance of strong Math and Science curriculums, especially at the K-12 level. But the thought that CSU East Bay will ever be able to compete with the UC in scientific and technological research is completely preposterous.

The University of California, Berkeley has an endowment of around $2.34 billion (don’t make me mention Stanford) compared to CSUEB, which has an endowment of less than $10,000 last I checked. This is important because—increasingly more so in an era of budget cuts—new STEM initiatives will have to be funded by private donations and grants.

CSUEB needs to drop the inferiority complex and take a close inventory of what it currently has: great faculty and staff members in every department, who are constantly being undervalued and marginalized at every turn.

The advantage of CSU schools is that it is cheaper, and that its faculty take their roles as educators seriously.

I’ve been told by a retired junior college lecturer from the Santa Clara County area that San Jose State has been repeatedly told by Silicon Valley Businesses that its graduates, though adept at computer programming, are not able to write simple memos or maintain any semblance of an intelligent conversation.

This shows what happens when people forget what a well-rounded education means. There was a time when being a “college man” was more of a social designation than anything else, which, rightfully or not, meant that you were now worthy of receiving the keys to the kingdom. This model has been rightfully challenged, however, there is still something to be said about what it means to obtain a college degree as opposed to a technical degree.

Let’s forget for a moment how important the programs offered by non-STEM designated programs are for students majoring in these fields. Apparently, these students will have no value in our future society and should already be staking out their spot on their parents’ couch. These programs are still extremely important for students within STEM-designated fields. And at a teaching-centered university like CSUEB, it is important that these classes be kept open and well-staffed for them to grow as intelligent people. It is less important that we build large science labs that will forever be subpar when compared to those up the road or across the bay.

The Social Sciences and the Arts have always played a pivotal role at what I still consider to be Alameda State College and I hope that they always will. This is Cal State, not Cal Tech, and it never will be.