The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

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The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

Corrigan defines University's future without student consent

It’s no surprise that President Robert A. Corrigan accepted the majority of recommendations given by the University Planning Advisory Council. The plan was of his own devising.

Not only did Corrigan handpick each of the 12 council members, but it has become increasingly more obvious which departments matter most to the administration of SF State. Yes, the new “six-college-plus-one” structure is expected to save the University $1 million – we’re not quite sure on that exact number, but hopefully we can count on Corrigan to pull us through, that’s always worked in the past right, right? – but this small dent will make little difference to complete the financial bulldozing the University will face.

Gov. Jerry Brown tacked another $32 million onto our fiscal tab and added to our current debt of $18 million, giving this University a grand total of $50 million in budget cuts for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

This circumstance is what Brown assures is the “best-case scenario”.

The dramatic alteration of a six-college-plus-one structure will account for a whopping 2 percent in savings in the coming semesters. Perhaps it’s just time the University made ends meet by any means necessary, but perhaps this is just the first step of a much more dramatic change that will have lasting effects.

By placing certain departments with deans who are unfamiliar and perhaps uncommitted to the subject matter, it would place certain departments at risk. And if we are $50 million in debt, some talk about cutting entire departments is undoubtedly going to be had. There is no question that there is reasoning behind the fact that there are only four college deans of our current eight deans represented in the UPAC council.

We believe there is also a very specific intention in having only one student representative in the council. If students come to the realization that programs must be cut throughout the University, there may be unwanted action. We should welcome this action.

The merger does not only affect the faculty and staff of SF State but also the students who are paying to come to the depleted institution of higher education. If the plan put forth is just the first step in the direction of cutting departments, the administration needs to fess up. Students and faculty need to organize and demand more attention to the battered educational system that is draining the learning experience and pocketbooks of our students. We must unite to compel the administration and California officials to invest in our future.

Dear Corrigan, we understand that historic changes need to be made, we just wish you’d be more up front about your plans so we could all join the cool kids at the administration table.

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Corrigan defines University's future without student consent