Students gathered at the Quad on Wednesday afternoon to discuss San Francisco State University President Lynn Mahoney’s response to the Student Union’s demands, ultimately deciding to walkout by the end of April.
The decision to engage in a campuswide walkout was preceded by students discussing their disagreements with Mahoney’s email to the Student Union after last week’s open negotiations.
“It’s hard to claim disagreements because she didn’t say anything. Almost all of her responses were ‘we’ll talk about it later’ or deflections saying it’s out of her hands,” said English major Mar Hudson. “I primarily just disagree with the fact that she is not being transparent with our student body and not even working in good faith to address that our demands exist.”
After an hour of deliberating with one another, students came together to conjure ideas on how to escalate their efforts and get their demands met. They decided on three days of action from April 27-29, beginning with tabling and an art exhibit then culminating in a campuswide walkout on the final day.
Student Union member and cinema major Brian Yan spoke about the importance of cultivating a coalition of students intent on getting their demands met.
“We can only win with participation from a huge number of students,” Yan said. “When massive amounts of students show up, it means that Lynn Mahoney, Amy Sueyoshi, Jamillah Moore, all of those administrators have to go and tell their bosses, ‘Hey there’s a student uprising here. If I don’t give in to these demands, there will be chaos.’”
Transfer student Moises Araica remained hopeful about a walkout, but shared some skepticism due to the university’s status as a commuter school.
“A walkout would be interesting. I do think it could have some positive outcomes. It could show that we are actually trying to go out and actually prove something,” Araica said. “At the same time, this is a commuter school, so not everyone’s going to stay here, not everyone’s going to go. Some people are going to show up for class and leave. We have to find a day where everyone is on campus.”
Of the five issues raised by the Student Union, those in attendance spent the most time on the topic of AI. The CSU-wide deal with OpenAI is a driving force for their concerns.
“I think AI budget and AI regulations is the most important demand to me, especially because I’m going to be a teacher,” Hudson said. “The idea of a university spending $17 million on a free service that is directly opposed to intellectualism and learning at a school is vain to me.”
Blanca Missé, an associate professor in the cinema department, shared their perspective on the Student Union’s demands as a faculty member.
“In terms of AI, I think [Lynn Mahoney] talked about a bill of rights of students; it’d be good to be specific about what this bill of rights is. In terms of academic freedom, we as faculty should not be pushed to use AI,” Missé said. “The administration cannot tell us we must use AI in our courses, but in the midst of massive austerity and cuts, there are suddenly grants for people integrating AI in their courses.”
Yan pointed out the hypocrisy of funding AI amidst cuts to funding in education and raised salaries for administrators.
“Our university is falling apart. University administrators make six figures and CSU administrators even more,” Yan said. “They have money for $17 million to go to OpenAI. They’re throwing our money away on investments, on AI, on administrative salaries, while they say they can’t fund our education.”
During last week’s open negotiations, Mahoney recommended the Student Union survey students for their opinion on AI.
“SFSU has no control over the CSU systemwide contract with OpenAI. Usage data suggests, though, that thousands of SFSU students use ChatGPT,” Mahoney said in her email to the Student Union. “Recent results of a CSU survey confirm this, as well as note a growing concern among students about their preparation for an AI-driven workforce. Many faculty are working on curricular initiatives to address this need, particularly in the area of human-driven AI, that likely require ChatGPT.”
Yan disagreed that it was the Student Union’s responsibility to survey the university’s student body, pointing to the disparity in available resources students have in comparison to the administration.
“According to President Mahoney’s own email, they already have information on student AI usage rates while we have noted that there has already been a CSU-wide survey on student attitudes about AI,” Yan said. “She has greater resources than students and faculty do to conduct a survey of them.”
Students who attended the general assembly over Zoom raised concerns about removing AI from the university altogether, citing programs in STEM fields like computer science that use the technology as part of their course work. Pro-AI students in attendance voted in opposition of several AI related resolutions, but declined to speak to Golden Gate Xpress.
Missé emphasized the importance of faculty having a bond of solidarity with the Student Union, especially amidst a shrinking budget.
“Student’s learning conditions are faculty’s working conditions. So for us it’s like everything the Student Union asks for, they’re also voicing many of our demands,” Missé said. “Administration tries to do this divide and conquer zero sum game with faculty and students, but in the past three years, they’ve been unable to do that because any attempt was met with outrage from both parties whose interests are 100% aligned.”
Yan said that all of the Student Union’s demands are essential to the student learning experience at SFSU.
“Free speech is in danger when schools like Cal State University, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley hand names over to the federal government for their pro-palestinian action,” Yan said. “ICE is targeting our immigrant community members, classmates, faculty and workers. We can’t let ICE terrorize them. Students also can’t learn properly when these expensive dorms are falling apart. They just can’t live like that.”
