CFA Members Urge Interim Chancellor to Center Student, Faculty Safety
At last week’s meeting, the CSU Board of Trustees announced that retired CSU Northridge President Jolene Koester will become interim chancellor starting May 1.
Koester’s contract is for one year, providing trustees time to hire a permanent replacement for Joseph I. Castro. Castro resigned in disgrace after 14 months on the job for mishandling sexual and workplace harassment allegations while president at Fresno State.
CFA members report a collaborative working relationship when Koester was CSU Northridge president from 2000 to 2011.
To continue that partnership and restore trust among CSU faculty, students, staff, and campus communities, Koester must:
- Center faculty, student, and staff safety in every action. CSU management has made a mockery of implementing Title IX protections and standards to ensure women are not discriminated against, assaulted, or harassed.
- Join CFA in advocating for adequate funding in the 2022-23 state budget. The CSU must be bold and ask for what is required to educate the next generation of leaders and changemakers.
- Continue the commitment made in bargaining to convene a task force to be made up of a diverse group of CSU faculty, staff, unions, students, and other stakeholders, to look at alternatives to police on our campuses.
“It is encouraging that CFA members from CSU Northridge had a positive working relationship with Dr. Koester when she was president there. I will be reaching out to Dr. Koester and hopefully she will reach out to me, too, so that CFA can begin a solid, collaborative, and productive working relationship with the interim chancellor, where we work together on faculty working conditions, including safety, MOUs from our recent contract settlement, budget, and many other areas to ensure faculty, student, and staff success and well-being,” CFA President Charles Toombs said.
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