CFA President Addresses the State of the CSU

As the new academic year gets underway, CFA members have been reflecting on the last 18 months of teaching and delivering support services to students during the COVID-19 pandemic, and preparing for the continuing work ahead to make the People’s University an inclusive and safe place for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

CFA President Charles Toombs encapsulated these reflections in an address Monday.

In his remarks, Toombs thanks CFA members for keeping the CSU afloat during the twin pandemics: the worst health pandemic the world has seen in a century and the ongoing pandemic of systemic anti-racism.

Looking to the future, Toombs urges all of us to reimagine a campus for the 21st century, teaching lived experiences and histories of our diverse faculty and students through Ethnic Studies courses. We must acknowledge the harm systemic racism on our campuses has caused to our past and present students and faculty, and designate alternatives to primary reliance on campus police.

“Chancellor Castro likes to call on us to be bold. Well, our way forward is bold and pushes our system into a better, more inclusive, safer future for all of us and our students,” Toombs says in conclusion. “As we begin this semester – I want all of us to work together for a better now and a new tomorrow; not a bolder CSU, but a more socially just CSU.”