Coming into this quarter, each reporter taking the Mustang Daily class was assigned a beat, that is, an area of the campus or community to cover. Mine was the Cal Poly president’s and provost’s office and, needless to say, excitement was not my first reaction. The subject sounded dry, boring and tedious; I was not looking forward to it. But I accepted it and charged ahead.
Breaking budget stories, furloughs, policy and administration all fell under my beat and turned out to be far more interesting and engaging than I expected. The depth to these topics seemed to be endless and each story involved pulling more and more layers off a story so I would be able to explain it to my readers. Now, as the quarter comes to an end, I have a new perspective on what the Cal Poly and California State University (CSU) administrations do for us as a school and as students.
The CSU system is comprised of 23 universities overseen by the Board of Trustees, which controls policy, the chancellors and subsequently the president and provosts who work under them. Needless to say, they’ve got quite the job on their hands. There are nearly 450,000 student in the CSU system; there is a lot of money and a lot of policy involved.
Russel Statham, a Fresno State University business administration masters student and the student trustee for the CSU Board of Trustees, said it is often hard for students to see the full process behind the Board’s decisions. He apparently caught a lot of flak for voting in favor of student fee increases this summer.
“My position doesn’t mean I do what students want me to do,” he said. “I do what’s in their best interest. It may not be what’s popular. That’s our job as trustees.”
Statham feels he and the board are well-informed on decisions. Not only is he a current CSU student, but he often visits other campuses and shadows administrators and professors to see how the decisions he and the board make play out.
Cal Poly ASI president Kelly Griggs agrees that students often do not see the full spectrum of these complicated issues.
“I think what’s hard is there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes,” Griggs said. “There’s a lot of reasoning that goes on in the decisions that are being made, a lot of long-range planning.”
Griggs said she attended the Board of Trustees meeting at which the Board voted for the student fee increase. She said that she believed the Board was trying to do what was best for CSU students.
“Students feel like (the Board) had malicious intent, but that is certainly not the case,” she said.
Both Statham and Griggs said that the Board of Trustees, and therefore the CSU system as a whole, is passed a budget the state decides before it falls into their hands. From there, the board allocates money as best it can. Statham and Griggs said a lot of the blame for the money shortage goes to the CSU and not the California government itself.
By defending the work that CSU and Cal Poly administrators are doing, I am not advocating that we do not need to watch them or hold them accountable for their actions. I just think students should be well-informed and do their homework before making accusations toward people who are (for the most part, I believe) trying to help them.