This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/strong><\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT<\/b><\/p>\n Communities across the country have been feeling the effects of increased ICE activity and deportations under the Trump administration. Last year in San Diego, ICE conducted more than 8,300 arrests<\/a>.<\/p>\n Throughout this time, students, faculty and staff have received a handful of communications from SDSU administration and de la Torre herself, informing the community of the university\u2019s immigration enforcement non-compliance policy<\/a>, particularly following national news events.<\/p>\n Many faculty and students argue that your communications approach to ICE and other national news events is reactive, not proactive and that it is doing little to calm fears. Why has this been the approach?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cWe were very thoughtful about the trainings and the outreach to really work less in an approach like, \u2018Here\u2019s an email. Go look.\u2019 But really create the space where we are thoughtful of not creating, if you will\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 the hoopla that can create when you do a massive email. And massive emails, first of all, most people don\u2019t read them. But secondly, they don\u2019t necessarily convey the information you really need.\u201d<\/p>\n De la Torre emphasized the importance of \u201chuman touch\u201d in university-wide communications, particularly among low interaction levels across emails, social media and the SDSU Alert app. She likened the university to an ecosystem, crediting the teams at the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity, the HR Department and the Monarch Unity Resource Center for their work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe often want to use technology, thinking it\u2019s the best way to communicate. I would argue technology is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for communication, particularly in areas that are as sensitive as issues dealing with immigration. And that\u2019s why we have to really be redundant on the human touch. When somebody provides feedback that we do not know [or] we haven\u2019t heard, then we can have that face-to-face, the phone call communication, the ability to find out what is a barrier and improve on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/p>\n I would argue technology is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for communication, particularly in areas that are as sensitive as issues dealing with immigration. And that\u2019s why we have to really be redundant on the human touch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Adela de la Torre<\/p>\n What is the most common method of communication?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll say what the most common complaint is. Let me reframe it. The most common complaint you\u2019ll hear is we\u2019re not responsive enough. Point. \u2018You\u2019re not responsive enough. Why didn\u2019t we hear this?\u2019 \u2026 The cycle of communication is, you have [a] constituency that is very, very engaged in the topic in the area, and is involved in the community. They have social media, they have been involved in training, they\u2019re very much involved. Their criticism will not necessarily come from, \u2018I haven\u2019t heard,\u2019 but perhaps, how you process this particular situation.\u201d<\/p>\n De la Torre explained that there needs to be a better way to reach individuals who are knowledgeable about national issues, but not about the university\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not [that] they\u2019re not engaged in the topic. They could be very engaged in the community, but they\u2019re not as engaged in this community that\u2019s really actively involved in the programs that we\u2019re offering. They haven\u2019t had the experience. They haven\u2019t had the training. My God, of course, they\u2019re frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/p>\n It\u2019s not [that] they\u2019re not engaged in the topic. They could be very engaged in the community, but they\u2019re not as engaged in this community that\u2019s really actively involved in the programs that we\u2019re offering. They haven\u2019t had the experience. They haven\u2019t had the training. My God, of course, they\u2019re frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Adela de la Torre<\/p>\n What conversations are happening internally with the university to combat immigration enforcement-related anxiety?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cI really encourage [students] to reach out. In this case, I want to make it very, very easy for them. They should go to Student Affairs, speak to whoever is part of the campus diversity group, it could be [to] go to the dean of students, so they can connect with information with the Monarch Center. That\u2019s the easiest entry point for students. For staff, I would say you can go to our HR department and the HR department with Jessica Rentto, can provide specific information for support if they need it. For faculty, they can go to Academic Affairs, and again, we can provide the support structure, and we can coordinate it so that they can have the information they need.\u201d<\/p>\n Are there conversations that the university is having, in terms of advocacy, system-wide within CSU?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cI would say all the presidents are extremely sensitive to this particular issue, as well as the chancellor. This isn\u2019t something that we\u2019re not aware of. In fact, we were at Hill Day,<\/a> all the presidents at Hill Day, and it was something that we\u2019re concerned about in regard to \u2014 obviously, now that we have a new secretary for Homeland Security, \u2014 what\u2019s going to be the tenor on in higher education? How is it going to affect it? We\u2019re very much open about the fact that it\u2019s creating anxiety and tension and fear and creating stress, not only on our students, but their families. It\u2019s creating stress on our faculty and our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n PROTEST POLICY<\/b><\/p>\n In August 2024, the UC and CSU systems updated their Time, Place and Manner policies<\/a> to include restrictions on encampments, temporary or permanent structures and the prohibition of masks for the purpose of identity concealment \u2014 which is left up to law enforcement discretion<\/a>. Both the California Legislature<\/a> and the federal government<\/a> have threatened to withhold university funding if they did not place new restrictions on campus protests, particularly pro-Palestine protests.<\/p>\n Where do you stand personally on the new Time, Place and Manner protest rules? Do you agree with them and why?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cOur TPM policies were well established before these occurred \u2026 We\u2019re putting it within the context of a moment in history, but let\u2019s put it in the moment of why we had to do this prior to all of these events, because that\u2019s really what\u2019s relevant here. What\u2019s relevant is we\u2019re in an urban campus. We really have to address the reality of an environment where anyone can come on the campus. Anyone could, if we didn\u2019t have these, anybody can come on the campus, anybody could set up shop if they chose to.\u201d<\/p>\n De la Torre also explained that the university had an issue with encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic, which created a public health and safety issue for the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[The TPM policy] isn\u2019t new for us. Where do I stand? Well, we\u2019re the ones who actually developed it. Our template was a critical template, but this was way before, way before this.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n \u201c<\/p>\n What\u2019s relevant is we\u2019re in an urban campus. We really have to address the reality of an environment where anyone can come on the campus. Anyone could, if we didn\u2019t have these, anybody can come on the campus, anybody could set up shop if they chose to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Adela da la Torre<\/p>\n Does recent historical context call for an update of the policy?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cNope. Not for our campus, because we are an urban campus. We\u2019re in the heart of a city. It is very different than if we were in rural Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n RECENT STRIKES, RAISES FOR FACULTY AND STAFF<\/b><\/p>\n In February, the CSU skilled trades workers went on strike<\/a> for unpaid contractual raises and step increases. While the strike ended, negotiations are still ongoing between the union and the CSU, with the CSU Bargaining Team citing the elimination of the original federal funding source as the reason for the raise denial.\u00a0<\/p>\n In their rebuttal, the skilled trades union has pointed to last year\u2019s presidential salary increases<\/a> \u2014 including de la Torre\u2019s. The California Faculty Association (CFA) has also consistently cited CSU executive raises in their own advocacy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do you believe the demands and concerns of the CFA and skilled trades union are fair?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cLet me be very clear, I am very committed to \u2014 and the system is \u2014 to raises for faculty and staff. Indeed, it\u2019s been two years since we have been in an impasse, and I think everybody wants to have a resolution to ensure that. So, unequivocally, I think it is critical to understand that our faculty and staff need to have living and competitive wages, that step increases need to be reasonable. And the CSU is doing a salary survey of faculty and staff, which will right size, hopefully, many of the inequities that we currently see.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/p>\n I think it is critical to understand that our faculty and staff need to have living and competitive wages, that step increases need to be reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Adela de La Torre<\/p>\n Are there any steps that the university is taking to support faculty and staff unions and their rights to negotiate?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cWe have no jurisdiction at the local level on the collective bargaining agreement. But we have a council that we meet with, our labor leaders, and this occurs in the fall, in the spring, or whenever we need to have a conversation about specific issues unique to the campus. And we\u2019ve had very productive relationships. I meet regularly with our CFA representative, Gloria Rhodes, [and] we talk about local issues. So, where we do have jurisdiction are local issues of concerns. They\u2019re brought, we talk about it, we see if we can resolve it, and for the eight years I\u2019ve been here, we\u2019ve had amicable relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n SDSU\u2019s AI INITIATIVE<\/b><\/p>\n The Daily Aztec previously reported <\/a>on the CFA filing a charge against CSU management, claiming that they failed to consult faculty before launching a major OpenAI partnership.<\/p>\n Last year, the CSU secured enterprise licenses<\/a> to Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, in addition to OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT, to provide system-wide access in a closed information system.<\/p>\n What do SDSU\u2019s AI integration plans actually entail?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cOver 90% of the students use ChatGPT. I mean, the data is real clear. Our students use AI \u2026 Now, granted, there\u2019s nuance, so I don\u2019t want to minimize that, but our students overwhelmingly use AI. Our staff, actually, [have] one of the highest rates of use of AI for their job. And then, of course, we have our faculty who, again, over 50%, but there\u2019s an active engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n At The Daily Aztec\u2019s fall meeting with de la Torre, she discussed how SDSU\u2019s AI Micro-credential<\/a> and unusually high participation in an AI usage survey are signs of student interest.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really important \u2014 which I think is great about SDSU \u2014 is we understand that these are [tools] that we can\u2019t run away from. We need to work with our students. We need to prepare them for the job market. We need to help our faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n De la Torre uses AI herself as an economist to do large data analysis and replace what would normally take hours with the Statistical Analysis System (SAS).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really important \u2014 which I think is great about SDSU \u2014 is we understand that these are [tools] that we can\u2019t run<\/p>\n \u2014 Adela de la Torre<\/p>\n What are companies like Microsoft and Google getting out of their partnership with SDSU?<\/b><\/p>\n De la Torre deferred to James Frazee, the vice president for information technology and chief information officer at SDSU.<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n GROWING ENROLLMENT AND RESOURCE AVAILABILITY<\/b><\/p>\n For the last few years, enrollment at SDSU has been increasing at a much higher rate than in years prior. In Fall 2025, enrollment at the San Diego campus reached a record high of 40,110<\/a> \u2014 a 4.4% increase from fall 2024.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-23.14.44-600x398.png\")
De la Torre poses in her office. Manchester Hall, April 23, 2026. (Roman Fong<\/a>)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSC06648-600x400.jpg\")
President de la Torre\u2019s office is located in Manchester Hall, along the Centennial Walkway. April 23, 2026 (