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Sarra Ben Ghorbal, CFA member and Cal State LA lecturer, holds up a sign for the Millie Watch action on August 18.<\/p>\nCFA members mobilized to speak out on increased faculty workload, budget cuts, administrative bloat, and protecting public education when CSU Chancellor Mildred Garc\u00eda visited CSU Los Angeles on August 18.<\/p>\n
Sarra Ben Ghorbal, CFA member and Cal State LA lecturer, holds up a sign for the Millie Watch action on August 18.<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda came for Fall Convocation and an \u201cInvestiture Benefit Luncheon,\u201d where she presented an award to campus President Berenecea Johnson Eanes. Members refused to let the celebrations overshadow the harsh reality of cuts to instruction and lecturer job loss, despite no ongoing cuts to the CSU\u2019s funding from the state. They took the opportunity to protest Garc\u00eda\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Members tabled outside of convocation, welcoming back faculty and handing out CFA\u2019s Shortchanging Students report<\/a>. The report exposes the ways in which CSU administrators are failing to keep their commitment to student success. Members also leafleted the report as people entered the luncheon.<\/p>\n When Garc\u00eda spoke at the convocation, faculty members dropped a banner reading \u201cStop Shortchanging Students.\u201d Others stood up and turned their backs.<\/p>\n Robin Dodds, CFA member and CSU Los Angeles professor, said Garc\u00eda\u2019s $983,000 total annual compensation package is a slap in the face to the students, staff and faculty of the CSU. Instead of paying Garc\u00eda nearly $1 million a year, Dodds said the university system could better spend the money on issues like paying our union siblings with the CSU Employees Union their promised salary steps<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOr the CSU could renovate the crumbling unsafe and unhealthy buildings that proliferate their aging campuses,\u201d Dodds said. \u201cOr they could invest in accessibility for their disabled students, staff, faculty, and community members who struggle to safely access and navigate campuses. Instead, Garc\u00eda gets paid to promote herself and post glossy propaganda that belies her systematic dismantling of the largest and most impactful public university system in the nation and sells the CSU off to corporate interests, closing the door behind her.\u201d<\/p>\n Since beginning her tenure as chancellor in October 2023, Garc\u00eda has repeatedly excluded faculty voices in making decisions and amassed a pile of unfair labor practice charges. Under her leadership, CFA has filed charges on issues including her A.I. initiative<\/a> and interim Time, Place and Manner (TPM) policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen CSU executives strip resources from classrooms and faculty, it is an attack on the students and on their communities who need those resources most now more than ever, and we will not stand by.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarra Ben Ghorbal<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sarra Ben Ghorbal, CFA member and CSU Los Angeles lecturer, said the Millie Watch action was well-received and sparked great conversations with faculty and administrators. She added that participating in the event filled her with a sense of solidarity and power.<\/p>\n \u201cStanding shoulder to shoulder with my colleagues reminded me that our collective voice matters and that we will continue to hold CSU leadership accountable for the future of public education and our students, \u201cBen Ghorbal said. \u201cWhen CSU executives strip resources from classrooms and faculty, it is an attack on the students and on their communities who need those resources most now more than ever, and we will not stand by.\u201d<\/p>\n\n