Thank you, Chair Fong and good afternoon Trustees, university Presidents, Chancellor Koester, and guests. My name is Krishan Malhotra and I serve as President of the Cal State Student Association.

Today with me are the 2022/2023 CSSA Executive Officers: VP Systemwide Affairs Dixie Samaniego, VP Legislative Affairs Trent Murphy, VP Finance Jonathan Molina Mancio, and our Chair Varenya Gupta.

CSSA represents the nearly half a million students in the CSU and serves as the official voice of CSU students to the California State Legislature and the CSU Board of Trustees. It is an honor to provide this report on their behalf.

At our August plenary, students were elected to serve on various committees of our organization and we also elected three regional officers. I’d like to congratulate Ignasio Castillo from Bakersfield, Miguel Guerrero from Sacramento, and Obioha Ogbonna from Dominguez Hills for being elected to serve as CSSA regional officers. In these roles, they will be assisting the organization in implementation efforts of our policy agenda.

This past weekend, CSSA returned to an in person meeting for the first time in over two years.

On Saturday, we hosted our plenary meeting at Long Beach State. This was a long awaited return by our executive officers, staff, and governing members. Our plenary meeting was full of thorough and fruitful discussion regarding: a review of the September Board of Trustees meeting agenda, a discussion on issues that students are facing upon the start of the fall semester, and preparing for the work of updating our organizational policies.

Our Board also continued with the development of our 2023 policy agenda which will outline our organization’s priorities for next year. While we are still in robust discussions, there are consistent themes and issues that our students are very passionate about which include:

Addressing the total cost of attendance, specifically as it relates to housing. Both in terms of access to housing and the affordability of housing.

Ensuring our students are learning in safe and inclusive environments inside and out of the classroom, particularly in times of extreme weather conditions such as the recent heat wave

Providing robust resources that address student’s mental health and wellness.

Lastly, our students continue to want to ensure that the democratically elected student leadership on each of our campuses are included in decision making policies and students are a part of the shared governance model across our system.

I’d like to emphasize on student’s mental health and wellness – our students are in need of services that can meet them where they are. While at CSUnity, we learned of a student, Samantha, from Sacramento State who struggled with her mental health. She struggled to find services that would meet her needs and it left her with no one to rely on but her family who were hundreds of miles and hours away from her. She knows what it is like to struggle in silence, being alone, being scared and dependent on student counseling and health services for support. She shared that she felt isolated and wondered what was wrong with her but she knew how important her education was, and has continued her education here in the CSU.

As a system, we should be doing everything that we can to support students like Samantha. We should be identifying ways to increase the availability of counseling and psychological services in the times when our students need it. Our students need care at all hours of the day. There can be and should be room for our campuses to provide any and all resources and services that will give our students the support and care they are in need of, at the times they need them.

Addressing the immediate health and wellbeing of our students should be placed at the CENTER of these discussions and decision makings. Our students’ lives quite literally depend on it.

On Sunday and Monday, CSSA hosted the 10th annual CSUnity conference. This conference is an opportunity for students to gather and learn about systemwide policies and issues and identify ways in which they can be advocates on their campus.

Our event was attended by over 140 CSU students representing 22 of our CSU campuses. The students were able to hear presentations on how systemwide policies are made and how their experiences, stories, and backgrounds can help influence how they become advocates.

Students were also able to participate in two different breakout sessions where they were able to learn more about CSU stakeholders such as ASCSU, CFA, CSUEU, and the Chancellor’s Office. The next round of breakout sessions were focused on issues facing the CSU such as: mental health, basic needs, Title IX and GI 2025. I’d like to thank all of our guest speakers who took time from their Sunday afternoons to spend time with our students and for sharing their insight and expertise.

CSUnity culminated in roundtable discussions where students had the opportunity to meet with CSU administrators and members of the Board of Trustees to share their stories. Our many thanks go to Chancellor Koester who provided a moving welcome to our students.

We’d like to thank the amazing Trustees and Chancellor’s Office staff that spent their Monday morning getting to know our students and gaining a deeper perspective on the day to day experiences of CSU students across the state.

I’d like to give a special thanks to Long Beach State, President Conoley, and ASI President Isaac Julian for hosting our first in person meeting and event in over two years! The campus was thrilled to host and we’re looking forward to the remainder of our in person meetings this year. We’re looking forward to being at Fresno State in November!

Before I conclude my report, I’d like to acknowledge that as a system, we are still in a time of healing. All of our students, faculty and staff are still in a time of healing. We all need your unwavering and steadfast commitment to restoring trust and creating a culture of care in our home, the CSU.

I sincerely hope that this board gives consideration to the survivors that call the CSU home as you continue discussions and take action on items that have the potential to impact members of our CSU community in their journey towards healing.

I also want to echo Chair Steffel’s comments on the inclusion of faculty and students in the Title IX assessment visits on our campuses.

I ask that the largest stakeholder in the CSU, our students, are always at the center of decisions that we make.

Thank you Chair Fong, that concludes my report.

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