Strike out: Picketers disrupt groundbreaking ceremony

Faculty and California Faculty Association members were out in full force last Friday at the groundbreaking ceremony. They were joined by members of the California State Employees Association. Jennifer Regadio/State Hornet

Nearly 125 picketers crashed the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Mariposa Hall on Friday.

Faculty members and members of the California State Employees Association carried signs reading “CSUS Yes, K-Mart No” and “We’re Not a Diploma Mill,” during the short ceremony.

The picketers far outnumbered members from the administration, including President Donald Gerth and provost and vice president of academic affairs Jolene Koester, as well as community members that attended the event.

The groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled to commemorate the beginning of construction on Mariposa Hall, a five-story classroom and office building that will be constructed on the site between Kadema and Eureka Halls.

Construction on the building is expected to last 16 months and is scheduled for completion sometime in the fall of 2000. The $12 million price tag is being financed through Proposition 1A funds that were approved by California voters last November.

With the addition of Mariposa Hall come 88 faculty offices, academic space for 500 students and 150 computer stations. The foreign language department, program of design, division of social work and the dean of Arts and Letters will all be headquartered in the 48,000-square-foot building.

The picketers were protesting the contract that was imposed by the CSU Board of Trustees and Chancellor Reed on March 17. Since the contract was imposed, The California Faculty Association has declared a state of strike between professors and Reed.

“I’m glad to see faculty participate in this event. They did a nice job here today,” said Jolene Koester, provost and vice president of academic affairs, of the picketers.

The protest on Friday is one of several events that CFA members are planning to raise awareness about the state of strike in the CSU system.