If you have not already done it, get a copy of The Pioneer, January 20, 2011. Read the letter (page 3) from Dr. Henry Reichman, “Let’s Be Honest About The CSU Budget.” Dr. Reichman is one of the most respected and insightful professors at CSUEB, and his summary and analysis of our situation is excellent. I would just like to add a few comments.
About 10 years ago, former CSUEB President Norma Rees had a small committee of hand-picked faculty members, who were granted limited access to budget information and were permitted to make occasional and private suggestions. We in the Academic Senate felt this faculty input was not adequate. So we formed COBRA: The Committee On Budget (And) Resource Allocation. Faculty serving on COBRA were to be elected by the Academic Senate, and would have full access to all CSUEB budget information. COBRA was to make suggestions whenever they felt it was useful. President Rees was not happy about this at first. She said, “This is not appropriate! Making the budget is my job. And anyway, I’m not wasting any money!” We replied, “Hold on. Under the principle of “shared governance”, we have the right to give serious input to the CSUEB budget process. And let’s say you’re right about not wasting money. Wouldn’t you want an impartial committee to confirm this? And we have some very qualified faculty here. Isn’t it possible we might come up with helpful suggestions?” A few years later, Dr. Rees retracted her objections. She agreed that COBRA has done no harm, and has done some good.
Wow! Isn’t it a shame that CSU headquarters doesn’t have a COBRA? Well, it does: the CSU Board of Trustees. But that “snake” is virtually dead. It almost never bites anyone, even people who truly need to be bitten! And the Board of Trustees is supposed to have a professor member, but that seat has gone empty for years. We faculty have a Statewide Academic Senate. But unfortunately, our “snake” has no fangs. When it tries to bite anyone at CSU, they feel no pain. It’s darn shame the principle of “shared governance” does not really exist at CSU headquarters! And here’s the issue: if CSU truly needs to restructure the budget, Dr. Reichman is 100% right. Huge savings could happen with a serious investigation of administrative expenses. We’re not saying President Mo is wasting tons of money, here at CSUEB. Some may disagree with me, but I think Mo is a great guy and he runs a pretty tight ship. But statewide, potential savings could be enormous. Governor Brown has implied that savings should come from all parts of the CSU, including at the top. OK, Governor, let’s go bite some people in Long Beach!
One last point: we read a lot about major waste in the UC budget. A lot of UC faculty think of CSU faculty as a group of younger, less-experienced brothers and sisters. Wrong! In spite of the absence of real shared governance at the top, we CSU faculty are able to analyze CSU finances a lot better than UC faculty do. Why? Because we have a great organization, the CFA (California Faculty Association). It’s amazing, but tenure-track UC faculty have no such organization! OK, “older brothers and sisters”, watch your “younger siblings”, and learn from us! Together, maybe we’ll study some top-level administrators and find out where a lot of serious, huge waste really happens. And maybe we can help California save some very big dollars.
