While faculty have not yet received formal layoff notices this semester, CSU Dominguez Hills administrators sent out an e-mail on December 2 sharing they were underway in their plans to eliminate six academic programs that serve as pillars of the university’s mission and as vital educational pathways for students in the greater Los Angeles region. 

The programs under threat include Art History, Geography, Labor Studies, Negotiation, Confliction Resolution and Peacebuilding, Philosophy, and Earth Science. Of these, the College of Arts & Humanities will be disproportionately affected by the proposed program closures.

“These programs are not expendable—they are essential,” said Dr. Stephen McFarland, a CFA Bargaining Team representative and Labor Studies professor at CSU Dominguez Hills. “Eliminating them would narrow students’ opportunities at a moment when they need more pathways, not fewer. These cuts contradict the university’s stated mission of social justice, critical thinking and civic engagement, the values of the faculty, and the needs of our region.”  

If these cuts occur, more than forty faculty members and their families face immediate risk of joblessness. 

These cuts will do extensive damage to the lives of faculty, students, and to the morale of the university, and they will solve almost nothing. While the university has not provided any clear financial data on how much the programs’ discontinuance would save, we know that these six programs are not the source of the university’s financial problems. This has everything to do with a failure of priorities. 

The major culprit here has nothing to do with sufficient funds. In the last four years, the total operating expenses have gone up by $23 million. But, instructional spending has gone down by $25.6 million (or a 20.5% cut) while administrative expenses grew by $2.4 million (or 7%) in that same period. 

And while administrators have blamed declining enrollment, they omit to share that CSU Dominguez Hill’s total enrollment has increased by 1.4% this past year, with the university projecting steady growth of 1.5% through fiscal year 2027-28. Cutting academic programs will only lead to further enrollment declines. 

The program cuts have been marked by a lack of transparency and poor timing. Faculty received their first notice just before Spring Break, leaving them with no time for questions or discussion. Months passed with no further updates, and has management has yet to explain why these six programs were chosen out of a long list of programs. 

Before CSU management can move forward with any decision and issue a final recommendation to the chancellor, they must meet and confer with our union. Once the meeting happens and a recommendation is made, it will trigger a formal notice under Article 38, which define layoff notices and procedures. 

At a time where management is considering cuts to instruction and programs, much like what management did at Sonoma State, they have made questionable financial decisions that are completely out of touch with what our students need. On November 19, the chancellor and CSU Board of Trustees awarded a 5% base salary increase to the CSU Dominguez Hills president, Thomas Parham, increasing his annual pay from $453,971 to $476,670. This increase will come directly from student tuition and state funding, and it does not include his housing allowance, car allowance, or any deferred compensation. 

Back in May of this year, President Parham announced he would retire at the end of December 2025. His salary bump will come just one month before he is set to leave the university. 

“Academic decisions must be driven by faculty expertise and student needs—not by austerity politics,” continued McFarland. “Furthermore, Cal State Dominguez Hills plans to eliminate jobs and programs for students while stuffing the pockets of campus executives with big raises and housing and car allowances, all while faculty can barely make ends meet and students’ needs are ignored. We reject the false choice between fiscal responsibility and a rich, diverse curriculum. It’s time to put the brakes on Parham’s discontinuation plans. We need new leadership to step in, examine the books, and oversee faculty with a transparent, fair process to fix our budget based on true shared governance. The campus is plagued by a lack of transparency in budgeting and decision-making. On top of this, CSUDH administration’s report [to the Chancellor’s Office] that proposed program discontinuations to allegedly improve the university’s fiscal health has been hidden from the shared governance bodies for months, despite multiple requests to see it.”   

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