CFA Town Hall: Course Cuts, Loss of Faculty and WASC

The Pioneer Staff • March 20, 2025 • 52 Views

From left: Earl Aquilera Associate Professor Department of Teacher Education; Keith D. Brown Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Alameda Labor Council; Kenia Juarez, Students for Quality Education (SQE); Jeff Newcomb, CFAEB President; Stephanie Seitz, CFA Bargaining Team, participated in a panel discussion during the CFAEB Town Hall at CSUEB on March 13, 2025.

California State University East Bay (CSUEB) President Cathy Sandeen was invited to attend a Town Hall organized by the East Bay Chapter of the California Faculty Association (CFAEB) on March 13. The standing room only event focused on the drastic course cuts and reduction in faculty over the past three semesters. It was co-hosted by The Pioneer and the student-led media club EastBayLive who also live-streamed the event from the Department of Communication’s Pioneer Media Center (LI1092)..

Although Sandeen did not respond to CFA’s invitation, she did take the opportunity to release slides from an earlier March 6 presentation of her administration’s budget assessments and planning a few hours before CFAEB’s Town Hall.

One of the hottest topics during the CFAEB Town Hall event was the imminent visit to CSUEB by the Accreditation Team of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) scheduled for March 19-21.

On its website WASC defines their mission as “[pursuing] excellence through rigorous accreditation standards applied flexibly, empowering all its member institutions to achieve their missions.” One of CSUEB’s key values promoted in its own mission statement is that the institution “align[s] knowledge, resources and equitable support in service of students’ strengths to grow personally and professionally.” A majority of students and faculty members voiced the opinion that course cuts and the drastic reduction of lecturer faculty has all but ensured CSUEB is not fulfilling its own stated educational goals for its students.

The Town Hall lasted over 75 minutes and ended with an appeal for everyone to provide feedback to the WASC Accreditation Team by participating in open forums with students and faculty:

All sessions will be held in-person in CORE 159, with virtual (Zoom) options. No advance registration is required.

Faculty Open Forum – Thursday, March 20th, 1:15–2:00 PM, Zoom Link
Student Open Forum – Thursday, March 20th, 2:15–3:00 PM, Zoom Link
Exit Meeting – Friday, March 21st, 10:00–10:30 AM (In-person only)