Working Together to Face a Challenging Moment
January 31, 2024
Dear campus community,
Last week, Sonoma State announced that the depth of their financial challenges requires drastic cuts for 2025-26 including closing academic programs, laying off faculty, and eliminating NCAA Division II student athletics. This has caused anxiety across the CSU and particularly here as we face many of the same enrollment and budget challenges that Sonoma State has. I wish I could write a simple reassuring email, but, sadly, due to demographic challenges comparable to Sonoma State’s coupled with the state’s plans for a dramatic 7.95% cut to the CSU, I cannot. What I can promise as we navigate this is continued transparency, a persistent commitment to shared governance, and ongoing communication.
Shared governance is critical as we continue our work to align costs with enrollment and as we meet whatever challenges the state budget cuts create. Our mutual commitment to shared governance is deep, as evidenced by the recent Senate retreat focused on “Moving Forward Together.” As I said in my remarks at the event, our mission remains unchanged regardless of our size. We are a comprehensive regional public university providing access to quality higher education and supporting the social, cultural, civic and economic life of the Bay Area and the state. But the context in which higher ed operates has changed and that requires that we rethink how we meet our mission and stay focused on items core to our mission.
Public confidence in the value of higher education has declined, with key stakeholders—including parents and legislators—placing increasing emphasis on the “return on investment” of a college degree. Today’s students are more focused on career outcomes and post-collegiate success than previous generations, a logical priority given the rising cost of living in California and beyond. At the same time, rapid advancements in technology and generative AI are reshaping both learning and the workforce.
The looming “enrollment cliff” – the decline in college-age student populations across the country – has already led to declining enrollments at our institution and several other CSU campuses, with experts predicting continued declines over the next 15 years. Given all these challenges, maintaining the status quo is not an option. We must adapt to these shifts and redefine how we fulfill our mission as a comprehensive regional public university—both in this pivotal moment and in the years ahead. This transformation will not be easy, especially amid ongoing budget cuts, but to remain competitive and best serve our students and community, it is imperative.
Many of our departments are already engaged in the work of revising their curricula and degree programs. The Institutional Review Committee – an Academic Senate committee formed to review academic offerings – begins its work this week and will identify ways to strategically reduce costs and make sure that our academic offerings are sustainable, including integrating some programs and discontinuing others. Their work will allow us to make hard decisions transparently and based in shared governance. We are unlikely to come to a consensus on every step forward, but we can work together to understand why they are being made.
I urge all to attend University Budget Committee and Senate meetings, as well as take advantage of other budget and enrollment meetings as they are scheduled. You can also review the UBC PowerPoint presentations as your schedule allows and join office hours with your UBC representatives to share ideas and ask questions. The better we all understand enrollment and budget realities, the better we work through this together.
We anticipated significant budget cuts next year as part of the multiyear budget plan to realign budget and enrollment, but the proposed state cut of 7.95% is a grave and immediate threat. I urge all to participate in CSU budget advocacy and encourage you to reach out to your unions and professional organizations for opportunities to fight for the CSU. I assure you that the CSU Chancellor and the Board of Trustees will be fighting for us in Sacramento. Please see the Finance Committee report at this week’s Board meeting for details about the CSU budget and the commitment of the Board to stronger advocacy for the CSU.
I conclude as always with the great gratitude I feel to all of you. It is an honor to work side by side with my colleagues to support our incredible students on their academic journeys. As I said to those who attended the Senate Retreat, times are hard but the CSU and SFSU are resilient. We will persevere.
Best,
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President
President's Messages - 2024
January 21, 2025
Dear campus community,
Welcome to spring semester! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and the break. I offer a special welcome to those returning to us from Los Angeles. Please let us know how we can assist you if you or your families were impacted by this month’s dreadful fires. I know I speak for all Gators when I extend our sympathies to all in the CSU family and beyond who suffered tragic losses.
As we begin yet another exciting semester at SF State, I have been reflecting on the significance of two events we hosted last fall: Author Kim Stanley Robinson’s panel discussion with faculty, and former Chief Economic Advisor to Governor Newsom Lenny Mendonca’s conversation with distinguished alumnus Chris Larsen. Both events were attended by hundreds of students and members of the SFSU community. While different in content and audience, the two discussions highlighted the importance of the innovative interdisciplinary thinking that distinguishes SFSU and the critical role that philanthropy plays in supporting our mission.
Kim Stanley Robinson, an internationally acclaimed science fiction writer and environmental activist, joined faculty from Management, Biology, Creative Writing, and Race & Resistance Studies – all of whom are part of the University’s Climate HQ hub – in a sweeping discussion that, while centered on climate change, ranged from writing and public policy to bioengineering and cryptocurrency. All there learned something new. As I watched in horror the fires that unfolded in LA, I was struck by how critically important this discussion was and how uniquely ready we are to engage in the interdisciplinary thinking that climate solutions will require.
Just a couple of weeks later, Chris Larsen engaged Lenny Mendonca in a conversation as part of the Lam-Larsen Distinguished Lecture Series. Again, the content veered widely, from the AI promised in the title to public policy and economic development. I was struck most though by how often the conversation returned to the critical importance of public higher education, especially the CSU and SFSU. Both Chris and Lenny made clear how California’s public education system, especially the CSU, transformed their lives.
These events would not be possible but for the philanthropic support of alumni and friends of the University. Kim Stanley Robinson’s visit was funded by the SFSU Foundation and hosted by Climate HQ, which is supported by a variety of grants and a generous seed gift by alumna Neda Nobari. Mendonca’s visit was supported by Chris Larsen and his wife Lyna Lam’s groundbreaking gift of $25 million. As I have mentioned elsewhere, the funding we receive from the state and tuition do not cover the basic costs of our mission. Gifts like Neda’s and like Chris and Lyna’s allow us to support things beyond the cost of instruction but critical to our mission including student scholarships, student and faculty research, interdisciplinary initiatives like Climate HQ, and events/programs that elevate our academic programs.
Too often in the recent past, I have written with grim news about enrollments or state budgets. But I have also said that despite these challenges, SFSU continues to thrive. And nowhere is that more evident than in the support we receive from donors. Our endowment stands at $175 million, a more than 167% increase over the last decade. Last year, the endowment generated $6 million in support for students, faculty and staff. These funds and other philanthropic gifts provide, among other things, tuition support to freshmen and sophomores in the Genentech Foundation Scholars Program; increased support and research opportunities for non-Computer Science majors learning coding skills; and created the first endowed chair in the University’s College of Ethnic Studies. Last year we exceeded our annual fundraising goal and are very likely to do so again this year.
Our mission matters and folks know it, as evidenced by the growing philanthropic support we receive. I encourage you to watch the conversation between Chris and Lenny. They make clear how important the CSU is to California’s success. Even while announcing a budget that includes a reduction in funding for the CSU, Governor Newsom recognizes that the CSU is “the nation’s strongest incubator of upward mobility and the nucleus of the California Dream.” From this vantage point, we will launch what I hope will be the CSU’s most effective period of state advocacy, one that results in the financial recognition that our mission requires.
So, as spring semester starts, we stand united for better funding for the CSU and SFSU, knowing that the region and state depend on us during challenging times across the country for higher education.
Wishing all a great semester!
Best,
Lynn Mahoney, Ph.D.
President