Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Budget...again?

As July 1st approaches, all eyes and ears are on the news reports, editorials and other commentaries centering on the state budget. California’s fiscal condition continues to decline and we are facing yet again another budget shortfall of $24B, which occurred after the state enacted a budget in February 2009.

I hope you all had an opportunity to attend President Haynes’ campus budget forum last week. If you missed it, the transcript is available
here. We are all deeply concerned about the magnitude of the cuts being proposed for the CSU, which are estimated to be in the range of $400 to $700M. I know there are more questions than we have answers to at this time so we will continue to do our best to communicate information as the situation evolves and the details come into sharper focus. Stay informed by visiting Budget Central to get the latest news.

While we recognize budget reductions could make us smaller over the few years and slow down the progress on some initiatives, our resolve to continue to build for the future must not be lost in the shuffle. Even though we are in the midst of what are truly unprecedented circumstances, we have a very important responsibility as it is WE who hold the future of this university in our hands. There are difficult decisions to be made that will affect each of us and our students. The decisions we make today will impact the long term future and if we are strategic and thoughtful, the University will be positioned for the opportunities that await us on the other side of this fiscal crisis. If we work and stay together, I know we will persevere during these uncertain times.

Even though we are facing budgetary challenges, our positive culture is still a priority. We just completed our 5th year of the FAS Values Survey with a 94% response rate which was our highest ever! My heartfelt thanks to all of you for embracing the FAS Division’s vision, mission and values. We heard you—FAS leaders reviewed the results and developed ideas for division initiatives to address areas for improvement. This summer, we will conduct focus group sessions to obtain more input on how we can continue to make this the best place to work. Click
here to view the results of the FAS Values Survey.

Would this be a University you would send your children? Let’s make sure the answer is YES!