Spring 2020 Welcome Message from
CFA Fresno Chapter President

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to the start of the Spring Semester! I hope you had a great winter break with time to relax and enjoy friends and family for the holiday season. As we begin the new year, I’d like to share a few updates with you regarding the proposed budget for the CSU, bargaining, the search for a new Chancellor, and upcoming workshops and events.

Governor’s Proposed Budget

Governor Newsom has once again committed to increasing the CSU’s budget with a 5% increase in continuing state funds. The $199 million in additional funding is down from last year’s $300 million. It is important to know that the proposal is an initial proposal and is subject to revision through the May revise and final budget approval in the summer. As such, CFA will be working alongside our students to convince the Governor and state legislators of the importance of securing the necessary funding for our university system. If you would like to be a part of this important advocacy work, consider joining your CFA leaders and Fresno State students for our Lobby Days on April 20^th & 21^st.

Bargaining Update

Securing additional funding to the CSU is also important when it comes to our efforts at the bargaining table. The Bargaining Team along with our Contract Development and Bargaining Strategy committee have been reviewing the bargaining survey results and will be “sunshining” our bargaining proposals at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting later this month. The process of sunshining in bargaining is just the initial step in the process, and additional information about our bargaining proposals will be forthcoming. We are planning for negotiations with management to begin later this spring.

Search for a New Chancellor

We assume the search for a new chancellor for the CSU is proceeding. Unfortunately, we have entered the “in-the-dark” period of top executive searches in which faculty, staff, and students receive little to no information or opportunities for input on the selection process. Back in December, Fresno State was one of only a handful of campuses selected to be a part of a “listening tour” by the designated Special and Stakeholder Advisory Committees who will conduct the confidential national search. Faculty and students from Fresno State, Bakersfield, and Stanislaus took the opportunity to have their voices heard at this hearing, but unfortunately, it was also held at a time when many faculty and students were in class. Click Here to read my prepared comments to the committee on behalf of CFAand you can watch the forums that took place last semester at the following link:  https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/chancellor/chancellor-search

Upcoming Workshops and Events

As always, your local chapter leadership has been hard at work planning a number of workshops and events for our upcoming semester. We will be holding workshops for our lecturer faculty related to appointment & entitlement, retirement benefits, and unemployment benefits. We will also be hosting our monthly all faculty luncheons, checking in with our CFA department reps over lunch, and supporting faculty who would like to attend upcoming statewide meetings including our Equity Conference in Manhattan Beach and the Annual CA-AAUP meeting in Santa Barbara. Look for additional information on how to participate in forthcoming emails.

Spring 2020 Workshops & Events

Our first event of the semester is our Spring Welcome Back Social for Faculty this Friday, January 24^th in the Vintage Room, 4-7pm. I hope to see you there!

Faculty Rights

Our faculty rights team has been busy working to take care of a backlog of grievances and faculty rights violations. They also send out a weekly faculty rights tip every Friday. If you have any concerns with the enforcement of the contract or possible faculty rights violations, please be sure to reach out to me or members of the faculty rights team:

Faculty Rights Team

You will find contact information for your complete chapter officers and leadership team here:

Fresno Chapter Executive Board

CFA Chapter Elections

This will be my last welcome back message as your CFA Chapter President. I have truly enjoyed my three terms and six years in this role, and I have been fortunate to work with amazing Chapter Officers, CFA Staff, and faculty activists throughout my time in this leadership position. At the end of my term, my activity in CFA will continue with the local chapter executive board as your Immediate Past President and as your Statewide CFA Secretary—once a CFA activist, always a CFA activist!

Our campus will be holding CFA Officer Elections this April. Our chapter’s Nominating Committee will be posting a call for nominations later this semester. Positions open for nominations include: Chapter President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Lecturer Rights Advocate and Delegate to the Assembly, Racial and Social Justice Advocate and Delegate to the Assembly, General Delegate to the Assembly, and two At-Large Officers. This is an excellent opportunity for faculty to help set priorities for our statewide and campus collective organizing, to advocate for faculty rights and quality education for our students, and to support the common good of public higher education. If you are interested, feel free to contact me, or any of your current officers, for additional information on running for an officer position and/or learning about other ways to get more involved with your local chapter.

Become a CFA Member

As always, our power to do our work as a union comes from our membership. And only members will be able to vote in our campus elections and on any contract/bargaining developments. If you are not yet a member of CFA, please consider joining at: Become a CFA member