February 16, 1995
Help Wanted: Short term position for outgoing California State University student with junior or higher class standing. Job includes paid travel to scenic Long Beach at two month intervals. Successful applicant for this two-year assignment must have a strong desire to represent 320,000 CSU students at CSU Board of Trustees meetings. This high-visibility position is ideal for the idealistic or politically ambitious student. Apply by Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Although the California State Student Association isn't taking out any classified advertisements in newspapers, CSSA University Affairs Director Larisa Tompkins expects plenty of responses to the association's ongoing search for a new student trustee.
"It's a very competitive position," she said, estimating that roughly 40 applications were submitted last year.
Departing student trustee and Cal State Fullerton student body President Christopher Lowe said that his successor should be prepared to put a lot of time and effort into the job. Although the board meets only once every two months, the job takes one and sometimes two full days of work every week, said Lowe.
The student trustee is a full voting member of the 24-member board, making decisions that will effect thousands. And it goes without saying that taking a stand on some tough issues comes with the territory.
"I voted in favor of fee increases," Lowe said, in reference to the board's unanimous decision last fall to recommend a 10 percent hike in fees to the state Legislature. He did so only because, "The trustees added an amendment that (the board) did not endorse or recommend a fee increase and that (the board) requested that the Legislature find the dollars to offset the fee increase," he said.
With no end to the current budget crisis in sight, cutbacks in remedial education also promise to be a controversial issue.
Although the chancellor's office estimates remedial education accounts for only six-tenths of one percent of the CSU system's operating budget, the trustees created a committee to develop plans to reduce the number of remedial classes offered on CSU campuses at their last meeting on Jan. 26.
"I'm reading several documents on remedial education right now, and I'm holding a round table forum on the topic on the Fullerton campus March 11 that will include one representative from each campus," he said.
Lowe said that staying abreast of issues and keeping in touch with his constituents -- CSU students -- is a never-ending process.
"I will develop my own rationale (on remedial education) from the round table discussion. The student population is so diverse. I need to consult with everybody before I make a decision," Lowe said. "I think it's more of a bottom-up approach, more of a town hall situation," said Lowe of the forum.
Lowe cited fee executive compensation as another difficult issue the board has handled. He characterized the selection of university presidents and the opening of new campuses as "interesting" rather than difficult issues.
In addition to other time-consuming tasks -- like sending out press releases and minutes of board meetings, and spending hours on the phone with students and reporters -- Lowe includes trips to Sacramento to lobby state legislators on behalf of students among his duties.
Some of these Sacramento trips were paid for by the CSU system, Lowe said.
For trips to board meetings in Long Beach, the trustee's transportation costs and a food and lodging stipend of $116 per day are paid for by CSU.
Lowe would like to see his successor continue some of the practices he has established, including visits to campuses and documenting meetings. "I think it's important for students to meet their representatives," he said. "I've been good about talking to students and reporters -- the last trustee didn't speak with reporters or return calls and I think it's important that students stay informed as to what is happening on the board," he added.
Patrick Callan, executive director of The California Higher Education Policy Center in San Jose, agreed that the role of the trustees is crucial. "The board has tremendous influence over the Legislature in terms of setting priorities," he said. Although the Legislature has the actual authority to make funding decisions, it is the board that decides what the CSU system will ask the Legislature to fund, he added.
The last time an SF State student sat on the CSU Board of Trustees, students had only recently won the right to representation on the CSU system's governing board.
SF State's Kathleen Carlson was the first student on the board, serving from 1976 to 1978. Since then, nine students from as many schools have been appointed to two-year terms as trustees.
Gov. Pete Wilson selects the student representative to the board from a list of 2 to 5 names submitted to him by a CSSA nominating committee. The committee is comprised of CSSA representatives from all 21 CSU campuses, Tompkins said. Applications are available at Associated Students, Student Activities and Services, and Career Placement and Planning, she said.