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April 6, 2004

Region’s Latino college presidents talk shop

The Capital Region’s four Latino public college presidents will come together at a forum from 9 a.m. to noon, Thursday, April 22, in California State University, Sacramento University Union’s Foothill Suite to discuss the challenge of access to publicly-funded higher education in a time of budget cuts and fee increases.

The four presidents—Alexander Gonzalez, CSUS; Raul Rodriguez, Delta College; Francisco Rodriguez, Cosumnes River College; and Kevin Ramirez, Sierra College—will participate in “Latino Leaders: Transforming Higher Education in a State of Crisis.”

Panel organizer David Leon, director of the CSUS Serna Center, said he expects a freewheeling discussion among the presidents and those in the audience.

“I am going to start them off by asking them all the same question: How is their institution coping with providing educational access, especially as it relates to the state’s growing diversity, at a time when budgets are being cut?” he said. That is a critical question, Leon said, as the state steps back from its Master Plan for Higher Education, turning some qualified students away from CSU and University of California campuses and pushing them into crowded and underfunded community colleges.

Leon also noted that the presidents also represent the growing visibility and power of Hispanic leadership in the state.

For more information, contact the Serna Center at (916) 278-4512. Media assistance is available from CSUS public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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