Friday

February 6, 1998

Trustees set the agenda for the 21st century

After a year and a half of development, the plan that will guide the 23-campus California State University system into the 21st century was approved by the CSU Board of Trustees Jan. 29.

In response to the endorsement of the Cornerstones document, which is meant for interpretation by individual campuses, President Donald Gerth has called for the formation of a task force to oversee the plan's implementation at CSUS.

"It's a positive step forward for this university," said Gerth, who served on the committee that drafted Cornerstones.

The goals of the task force will be to examine the report and "propose a set of priorities for the implementation of the principles at CSUS," Gerth said in a memorandum sent to the Faculty Senate chair Thomas Krabacher and Associate Students Inc. President Sandra Schlemmer on Feb. 3.

Gerth sent the memo asking these two groups to choose representatives to serve on the Cornerstones task force.

Gerth has asked Jolene Koester, university provost and vice president for academic affairs, to serve as the group's chair.

"I'm very pleased to be working with the campus community on this important initiative," she said.

The task force will develop a working plan with an implementation timeline. Regular progress reports will be made to Gerth and the campus community, according to Gerth's memo.

The task force will include two students, four faculty members, one school dean, one representative from Student Affairs, one representative from Business Affairs, and one member from the outside community.

Koester said she plans to convene the task force for its first meeting within 10 days of the Feb. 13 deadline that Gerth has set for members to be named.

Cornerstones, publicly unveiled by former CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz, proposes recommendations for change in four major areas -- educational results, access to higher education, financial stability and university accountability.

Koester said the university had anticipated the trustees' approval of Cornerstones and was fully aware of the direction in which the report was going.

The Cornerstones report includes recommendations for improving the assessment of student knowledge in general education, developing adequate student services for those with non-traditional schedules, giving students the responsibility of creating their own academic plan, developing a technological infrastructure necessary for students to access university programs via distance education, and ensuring the financial stability of the university system.

The CSUS faculty senate has previously aired concerns with Cornerstones. In a document available on the World Wide Web, the faculty senate specifically addresses some of the August draft of the Cornerstones' specific proposals.

"The idea of active student involvement in developing individualized academic plans is desirable, as long as it doesn't mean that students have autonomy to dictate what they learn," said the Faculty Senate reply.

The report also said faculty control of program and curriculum development should be maintained.

Faculty Senate executive committee member Marjorie Gelus said Cornerstones is unobjectionable although there were some controversial elements. She said it is a series of flexible guidelines that are suggestions only. The Faculty Senate will be working with the new task force for implimentation at CSUS.

ASI President Sandra Schlemmer said ASI and the university would continue to work together on implementing Cornerstones, as they have in the past with other campus programs.

"It can only help students," she said. "The document is all about students and where we will be going."

Schlemmer said ASI did not have any concerns with Cornerstones.

An ASI task force is currently reviewing the Cornerstones document, Schlemmer said.

Computer science left in the dark in tech deal

CSUS engineering and computer science department faculty this week charged the Faculty Senate with being too tight-lipped with facts about California State University's stalled $365 million technology deal.

But the senate's chair said Wednesday that senators had little time to inform the faculty -- and had even less concrete information.

"People are asking questions," said Mike Wimple, who works in support services for ECS. "The information that is coming out of (the Faculty Senate) is not real clear." Mary Jane Lee, acting associate dean of engineering and computer science said the ECS department did not receive information on the California Education Technology Initiative until December.

Wimple said CSU officials offered the CSU home page (www.calstate.edu) as a source of information about the California Education Technology Initiative back in November. But when the State Hornet reviewed the page in November, the information available was six months old. At that time, companies were still being screened to join the partnership.

He noted that information would only get to those who check the Web site at all.

Wimple also said he is "symptomatic" of the anger among ECS faculty, who worry if the deal with Microsoft, Hughes, Fujitsu and GTE is approved, their students will lose access to important hardware and software required for department course work.

Lee said the deans of the CSU engineering departments are in the process of formulating a resolution condemning CETI.

Faculty members from other departments at CSUS said they had known about CETI in April or May, long before ECS faculty members.

The deal has now been pushed back until at least May because of intense statewide scrutiny. Faculty and officials from corporations screened outside of CETI have called it "a stay of execution."

Now, faculty members say, there will be more time to review the deal. After a "memorandum of understanding" is available to CSU campuses, there will be a 30-day review period, and then a two-week negotiation session.

Faculty Senate Chair Tom Krabacher said Wednesday his group got its information in "a piecemeal fashion." Journalism professor Michael Fitzgerald, who chaired the Faculty Senate last year, could not be reached for comment.

Krabacher said the technology deal was not presented very well by CSU administrators, who last semester brought proposals detailing which companies would join CETI.

"We got the proposals on a Wednesday morning, and we only got to review them for two days before they got sent back. They were hundreds of pages," said Krabacher. "There was no way to formulate anything (for the faculty)."

Krabacher said students in ECS classrooms will retain the same hardware and software for any classes they take if CETI is approved.

"They'll still have PCs; they'll still have Macs," he said.

Faculty senators from throughout CSU received an e-mail in November detailing the CETI business plan. The State Hornet received a copy of a few internal e-mails to faculty senators last semester. They were filled with questions such as "Are we prostituting ourselves?" and "Should we be selling ourselves?"

As state legislators, faculty union members and Lt. Gov. Gray Davis pressure CSU administrators for hard facts and reassurance that their secretive deal will not cause a monopoly that will harm academic freedom, tough questions about the link continue to grow.

However, Richard West, CSU's senior vice chancellor, said one week ago the delay until May is no sign that the deal is in trouble.

West said CSU is carefully examining the financial upside and downside of CETI. To do so, an independent financial consultant has been hired.

Proposal held off until May

The controversial plan for the California State University system to go into business with four large corporations has been delayed until at least May, following increasing attention from students, faculty groups and the media to the nearly half-billion-dollar deal.

The California Education Technology Initiative, a complex plan to link CSU with Microsoft, Fujitsu, GTE and Hughes, was first set to be signed in December of 1997. After intense scrutiny of the deal by the media and an outcry of opposition by student leaders and faculty senates, the architects of CETI agreed to extend the deadline to allow more time to examine the plan.

Proponents of CETI say the partnership will allow CSU to update its computer system, while allowing the university system to concentrate on using its resources to increase faculty salaries.

But the promise of more money did not calm the fears of the faculty senates of six universities, which called for measures ranging from more time to look at the deal, to CSU Fresno's call for an injunction by the State Attorney General's Office.

Faculty members were concerned with the question of access and all that it would entail. Academic freedom, university autonomy and privacy of student and faculty records were among the concerns of those questioning the deal.

ASI to clarify appointment process

Legislation to amend the Associated Students Inc. process of appointing new members to the Board of Directors has been placed on the agenda for the Feb. 11 meeting.

In an effort to "clarify" the process of appointing new board members, ASI Directors Jennifer Helms and Devin Cook are cosponsoring legislation that would allow the president more freedom in advertising vacant positions, Helms said.

"There was a little bit of ambiguity in the operating rules," said Cook, the director for postbaccalaureate degrees.

The current operating rule says that in the event of a board vacancy, the ASI president shall advertise vacancies in the first issue of the campus newspaper. Helms and Cook's amendment removes any references to "campus paper," and states the president shall determine the most effective means of advertisement.

During the summer, the board chose to advertise vacancies through two direct mailings and appointed five new board members -- Cook, Jaya Kapoor, Kim Shaw, Daniel Freschi and Jennifer Mathis -- before the first advertisement appeared in the State Hornet.

"The Hornet only has a circulation of 12,000," Helms said. "We can mail out to 22,000."

Helms said the subject of changing the operating rules had come up earlier in the school year and again during the ASI winter retreat.

The Nov. 14 issue of the State Hornet reported that although ASI President Sandra Schlemmer and Executive Director Carol Ackerson claimed they received the approval for the mailings from Vice President for Student Affairs Shirly Uplinger, Uplinger responded she had never given the board permission to violate the operating rules.

Cook said the proposed legislation was not an attempt to re-affirm the legality of his and his fellow board members appointments.

"This does not validate, invalidate, confirm or unconfirm the appointments," Cook said. "What is done is done."

Cook said he believed his appointment was made legally.

Low grades can close doors on future jobs

What with the demands of school, work and family, many students are in a hurry to get a bachelor's degree, racing through courses with little effort -- hoping just to pass. The grade point average for the previous four semesters of the entire CSUS undergraduate population was 2.796 -- just barely above C level.

Many students don't realize how important their GPA is until it's too late.

Employers have an interest in their employees' GPAs. Some companies will not interview job seekers who have less than a 3.0.

"Hewlett Packard is firm on its requirement for a 3.2 GPA in the major and overall," said Nancy Hackbart, who works on the Career Center's On-Campus Recruitment Program. "And the federal government has an outstanding scholar program that requires a 3.5 GPA for consideration.

"The big six accounting firms want graduates who have a 3.4 GPA," added Kristi Glaser, who also works for the recruitment program.

This program matches company recruiters with qualified graduating seniors for interviews. Deadline for the next session is Feb. 9. For information, call the Career Center at 278-5621.

Students are asked their GPA from a host of people -- friends, parents and even bosses. GPAs can be an important factor in getting interviews for high-salaried positions. They can also be a deciding factor in admission into graduate school.

"Your GPA is a pretty important part of getting accepted into a graduate program. You should never think you won't be applying for a graduate program, so don't just hurry in finishing a bachelor's degree," said Bonnie Pesely, a coordinator at the CSUS Graduate Center.

Recommendation letters, statement of purpose and a possible interview are also considered in the application process, Pesely explained.

Many of the grad programs at CSUS use a formula system to determine eligibility.

A combination of GPAs and scores from the Graduate Record Exam or the Graduate Management Aptitude Test is used to calculate a final multiple. If this multiple is above the minimum requirement, the student is eligible for graduate school.

But having a GPA under 3.0 doesn't mean graduate school is beyond possibility.

"Some graduate students come in as unclassified, letting them finish off undergraduate courses they need to enter a specific program," said Pesely. Unclassified graduate candidates need a minimum overall GPA of 2.5.

And many students don't realize the potential for turning high GPAs into scholarship cash for college.

"Not enough students here at CSUS are applying for available scholarships, leaving some to go unclaimed," said Joan Boyd, a student affairs coordinator in the School of Business Administration. "More students should be encouraged to apply."

There are over 50 scholarships in all concentrations of business administration with GPA requirements ranging from 2.5 to 3.5. Many take into account other factors, such as campus and community involvement.

A good GPA can also give students a little extra spending money by lowering their auto insurance rates. "A policy holder can get a 25 percent good-student discount if they are less then 25 years old, are taking 12 or more units and have a 3.0 GPA," said Colene O'Doherty from State Farm Insurance Company.

Some clubs and organizations even make high GPAs a requirement for membership.

Student organizations look to recruit members with high GPAs and require minimum levels to participate. These groups include many of the clubs, Greeks and Associated Students Inc.

"I did well a few semesters ago, making the dean's list twice in a row," said Roland Schoenenberger, a senior majoring in international business. Now with 18 units, all I want to do is not let my GPA drop, so I can get into grad school."

Schoenenberger's high GPA helped him to become a member of the Golden Key National Honors Society. This organization has a chapter at CSUS made up of juniors and seniors in the top 15 percent of their classes. Students with high GPAs receive invitations to join the society.

"The best thing about Golden Key is that I'm networking and meeting people from all over the western United States," said Schoenenberger.

About 10 percent of CSUS students graduate with honors. For GPAs of 3.5 - 3.74, students graduate Cum Laude; for 3.75 - 3.89, it's Magna Cum Laude; and for 3.9 - 4.0, it's Summa Cum Laude.

An unwritten law of the universe states that a GPA can fall much faster than it rises. One D or F can ruin a record of several A's and B's.

For instance, if after completing a semester of three-unit courses at CSUS a student's grades were an a A-, B+, two Bs and a B-, that student's GPA would be 3.073. If, however, one of those Bs were an F, the GPA would be 2.533.

The overall undergraduate GPA for each school, ending the spring 1997 semester, is:

• Arts and Letters - 2.853
• Business Administration - 2.817
• Engineering and Computer Science - 2.716
• Education - 2.849
• Health and Human Services - 2.824
• Natural Sciences & Mathematics - 2.816
• Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary - 2.775

Correction: