Date: August
15, 2012
To: Dr.
John Welty, President
Fresno
State
From: Concerned
Emeriti Faculty and Community Members
Contact: Joyce
Aiken, joyceaiken@att.net
Dear President Welty:
The destruction of one
hundred sixty four beautiful, mature trees demonstrates that something is
seriously wrong at California State University, Fresno. A decision of such
importance would normally have been made in consultation with the faculty and
appropriate community groups who have helped improve the campus as an arboretum
and as a living laboratory for years. At a time when community support is more
important than ever, confidence in your leadership is eroding. California State
University, Fresno, has become a sad spectacle of poor communication,
unilateral decision-making, and disrespect for faculty.
The necessity for
faculty consultation is clearly stated in the shared governance document
entitled “A Constitution for the Academic Assembly of California State
University, Fresno” and it is legally articulated in The California Higher
Education Employer-Employee Relations Act [HEERA, section 3561(b)]. Moreover,
shared governance is supported by the CSU Board of Trustees through its
1985 adoption of “The Report of the Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Committee on
Governance, Collegiality, and Responsibility in the California State
University.” Proper faculty consultation is the means by which the values
of higher learning and the mission of the university are translated into the
daily operation of the institution. Over the past year the faculty has
requested that you and Provost Covino abide by university policies and
California law through senate resolutions and open letters.
A significant number of
people, well known to you, have been aware of attempts to resolve differences
between the administration and the faculty. We have remained silent in hopes
that respect for student and taxpayer interests would prevail. The senseless
destruction of the east campus urban forest appears to have closed that chapter
with finality. We urge you to take immediate steps to rebuild your
relationship, based on trust, with the faculty and the community. It is not too
late to restore mutual respect and focus on the university’s mission.
We also urge you to resolve the problems that stem from
excluding university faculty from traditional decision-making. These include
the escalating displays of bureaucratic authority leading to poor fiscal
management, the large carry-forwards in times of budgetary crisis, and
arbitrary practices in administrative hiring. We hope that you respond
affirmatively to the resolutions passed by the Academic Senate and give budget
priority to teaching, research, and hiring practices based on faculty
decisions.
We, the emeriti and retired
faculty, alumni, and community members, look to you to provide leadership in
resolving the escalating crisis of confidence between the faculty and your
administration. We hope that you can restore the legacy of trust, shared governance,
and academic freedom that has been the hallmark of California State University,
Fresno.
Below is a partial list of those
who support this letter.
Sincerely,
Philip Levine Bruce Blackerby
Noel Harbertson Jack
Pitt
George
Kaufman Marguerite
McMenamin
Dick
Haas Connie
Pitt
Alex Vavoulis Bob
Levine
Howard
Watkins Jennifer
Williams
Dale Bush James Highsmith
Bob Hirth Barbara Ulman
David Grubb Sam Franklin
Shirley
Valett Robert
Ware
David Frank Ronald Holmes
Ed EmanuEl Howard Latimer
SteveYarborough Mike
Brown
Eleanore Bluestein Steve Rodemyer
Ray McKnight Roger
Chittick
Burke
Zane John
Donalson
Fred Brengelman C.
Loc Chua
Helen Gigliotti Ray
Reichert
Janice Rosenberg Manuel
Pena
Margaret McKnight Kin-Ping
Wong
Frank Laury Debbie
Vaught
Ethelynda Harding
Manuel Olgin
Charles Shields
Don Priest
Joyce Aiken
Gerald McMenamin
Linnea Alexander
Hugh
Williams
Charles Hanzlicek
P J Mistry
Sasan Fayazmanesh
Stan Poss
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