According to California State University (CSU) spokesperon Stephanie Thara, the CSU is about midway through their search for the candidate to take on the reigns of the nation’s largest university system. The seven-member committee created to select the next chancellor, headed by Trustee Bill Hauck, is expected to come to a final decision by the end of this year after formally beginning its search on June 28.
Following the retirement announcement of current Chancellor Charles Reed, the question of who will oversee the CSU has been speculative at best. Governor Brown’s nomination of State Treasurer Bill Lockyer was met with raised brows as many criticized his lack of understanding about education and the CSU system itself. Current CSULB President F. King Alexander, though popular and talked amongst news outlets as a possible choice, has yet to lock the position.
The troubled system has faced major budget cuts that have led to devastating layoffs and hiring freezes, the halting of admission for thousands of qualified pupils, and overwhelming infrastructure instabilities.
And it is for these exact reasons that the California Faculty Association (CFA), the group which represents some 23,000 professors and employees of the CSU system, is calling for an open executive search.
The group has sponsored a resolution drafted by Assemblymember Richard Pan, which was recently passed by a committee yesterday and will now move to the Assembly floor for consideration. ACR 164 encourages that the recruitment and selection process the CSU is undertaking for the next chancellor be a publicly inclusive one.
In a press release, Associate Vice President of CFA Cecil Canton stated, “The CSU Chancellor is one of the most important public servants in state service. As such, the recruitment and selection should be done publicly, not part of a backroom coronation that excludes key stakeholders.”
Currently serving as a professor of Criminal Justice at Sacramento State University, Canton continued with the allegation that “a secretive search that did not include a public vetting process was employed in the previous selection of the CSU Chancellor, resulting in negative tone of communication and relationship between the Chancellor and the public.”