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Sharp cuts at California State University, but one Southern California campus is feeling it harder

Sharp cuts at California State University, but one Southern California campus is feeling it harder

Over the summer, California State University officials delivered bad news to their campuses: A drop in state funding and admissions would mean $1 billion in budget cuts.

Now faculty say the impact of these cuts is felt more among faculty than among other staff.

Lecturers are college professors who teach part-time or full-time but do not enjoy the benefits or job protections of tenured faculty. Lecturers often have the same degrees as tenured faculty. They too constitute the majority of CSU’s academic staff.

The number of classes conducted by lecturers depends on the needs of university units, and during economic downturns, they are usually the first to learn that their services will not be needed.

How does this affect lecturers?

Last year was a very good year for California State University in Los Angeles lecturer Dmitri Seals.

“I received the 2023 Outstanding Lecturer Award at Cal State Los Angeles,” Seals said.

For the previous six years, he had lectured on the sociology of race, gender and inequality, and led projects aimed at closing income gaps and digital inequalities.

“I was very honored (by the award) and saw it as an opportunity to expand my work in teaching,” he said.

But about six months after the fanfare and acclaim died down, his department gave him bad news.

“(I) was definitely disappointed when I found out I wouldn’t be teaching in fall 2024.” Seals said.

(I) was definitely disappointed when I found out I wouldn’t be teaching in the fall of 2024.

— Dmitri Seals, named 2023 Outstanding Lecturer at CSU Los Angeles

He stated that the classes he had taught for years were not available. Later, his superiors offered him fewer classes on topics he had not taught before; The seals rejected these proposals and decided to focus on them projects increasing entrepreneurship and other economic opportunities, financed by city grants.

LA State now has 82 fewer faculty members than it did at this time last year, according to a university spokesman. They added that this number is preliminary and may change.

Cal State Los Angeles isn’t the only campus that has seen a decline in student enrollment. The 2023 student enrollment at the Dominguez Hills campus is down nearly 8% from the previous year, while the San Bernardino campus has seen a decline of nearly 5% over the same period.

A faculty member fired from one campus but hired at another

Debito Beamer taught political science at Cal State in Los Angeles for six years. He said about a year ago, administrators told him and other faculty members to prepare for budget cuts. He didn’t know how bad it would be.

A person with medium fair skin and a beard sits on a concrete bench with cacti in the background.

Debito Beamer taught political science at California State University, Los Angeles, until he was fired

(

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

/

LAist

)

“Then May comes and they say, ‘You know what? Budget cuts. We will not conduct any classes for you,” he said.

While trying to find a job, he learned that CSULB and other Cal State campuses, unlike Cal State Los Angeles, were hiring.

“I’m teaching 400 students, 22.5 units this semester,” said Beamer, who is teaching primarily at Cal State Long Beach this semester.

Beamer’s experience sheds light on the varying impacts of CSU’s cuts on the 23 campuses in the university system.

Some campuses are expanding in the face of cuts

There are 1,730 faculty members teaching at CSU Long Beach this month — 60 more than a year ago. A university spokesman said the number of tenured faculty members was down by eight.

There is a thin, large inscription on the white brick wall "California State University Long Beach." Trees emerge from behind the wall, and in front there is a green lawn and a few bushes.

One of the main entrances to California State University Long Beach

(

Ashley Balderrama

/

for LAista

)

California State University, Northridge is offering 6,407 classes this semester; this is 180 more than a year ago, according to data provided by the university. CSULB is offering 210 more classes this semester than last year.

“A conscious effort has been made on behalf of the university and its leadership to protect as much as possible what happens in the classroom with faculty and students,” said CSUN spokeswoman Carmen Chandler.

CSUN has an additional 20 faculty members this year, bringing its total to nearly 1,300. The number of tenured faculty members has remained almost the same.

A conscious effort has been made on behalf of the university and its leadership to protect as much as possible what happens in the classroom, teaching and students.

— Carmen Chandler, spokeswoman for CSU Northridge

It’s unclear how severe the cuts are across departments. Universities do not publish information about faculty and department loads, and those numbers are influenced by other factors from year to year — “such as changes in curricula,” CSULB spokesman Jeff Cook said in an email. “Changes to records; pensions; the rate at which new employees can be hired and the possibility of unsuccessful searches; free time for service, research, scientific and creative activities.”

For now, some CSULB administrators are making cuts to supplies and other costs that are unrelated to salaries.

“We have to be very careful about purchasing equipment,” said Curtis Bennet, dean of CSULB’s college of science and mathematics. And this is a big deal, he said, because of the work of the university’s laboratory.

Enrollment also affects budgets – more students means more tuition filling the coffers. Los Angeles State saw a 7.8% decline in student enrollment in the fall of 2023, according to U.S. data. During the same period, the university dismissed over 10% of classes.

California’s population decline and Covid-19 contributed to recent declines in admissions at California colleges. But campuses are affected differently.

At Cal State Los Angeles, two factors are key: “Regional trends for college-age adults and, this year, federal trends delays in processing financial aid for a campus that primarily serves Pell-eligible students,” said California State Los Angeles spokesman Erik Hollins.

Enrollment at CSULB increased by 3.3% and nearly 1% at CSUN during this period.

More cuts are coming

In most cases, CSU also plans to cut campus budgets in the 2025-26 academic year.

Different approaches and different impacts seem to be coming to the surface, depending on the campus.

“I think the university-wide discourse on admissions is defeatist,” Seals said of the approach he has heard in recent academic years at CSULA.

LAist asked to speak to a Los Angeles, Cal., administrator to explain how the decline in faculty is tied to the decline in enrollment, but did not provide anyone.

Seals said the conversations he heard and participated in before and after his best faculty award did not include any forward-looking plans or enthusiasm for serving university students who grew up in mostly working-class communities, even in dire financial circumstances .

“It was more like, ‘Well, this is what’s going to happen to us,’ rather than ‘Here’s what we’re going to do together,'” he said.

He says the ultimate impact is felt most by students who are just trying to get to graduation day.