May 2023 Board of Trustees Report

President Krishan Malhotra

Thank you, Chair Fong, and good afternoon Trustees, University Presidents, Chancellor Koester, and guests.

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

I would like to extend my warmest wishes to our entire CSU community for a happy Asian Pacific Islander Desi American heritage month.

Since my last report, I’ve had the privilege of visiting three remarkable campuses: CSU Channel Islands, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and CSU Chico.

I would like to express my gratitude to President Yao for the campus tour and furthering my understanding of the Channel Islands, the impact the campus has on Santa Rosa Island Research Station, and the case management model for students’ basic needs and mental health. I spoke with students and would like to thank ASI President Ilien Tolteca and ASI Vice President Javier Garnica for their perspectives.

At Cal Poly, I learned about the mental health support structures and joined the University community at the annual Cal Poly Rodeo. Thank you President Armstrong, Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Humphrey, ASI President Gracie Babtola, Chief of Staff Andrew Kim, and Chair of External Relations Tyler Coari.

At Chico, the ASCSU and CSSA met to reflect on the year  and we had a special visit from President Hutchinson which was informative and insightful. Thank you ASI President Krystal Alvarez for showing us around the beautiful Chico campus and community!

Since my last update, CSSA has held two productive and celebratory plenaries. Our Board passed two sets of recommendations on productive ways to engage students in campus policy development and enhance student feedback on the service delivery of campus dining services. We continue to advocate for student centered legislation that promotes an accessible, affordable and high quality education in the CSU.

During our May plenary at Cal State Bakersfield, CSSA  had discussions regarding the implementation of the Cozen O’Connor Assessment and discussed the recommendations of the Sustainable Financial Model Workgroup. Thank you to Vice Chancellor Leora Freedman, AVC Ryan Storm, and Executive Budget Director Jeni Kitchell for joining CSSA in Bakersfield. These two issue areas will be priorities for CSSA next year and we look forward to working with the Chancellor’s Office to ensure students are consulted, heard, and intentionally engaged. Students recognize that more resources, human and financial, are needed to create a more inclusive and equitable CSU culture and community. CSSA looks forward to and will make ourselves readily available to work with the Chancellor’s Office on these difficult but incredibly important issues.

Also at our May plenary, CSSA had the privilege of honoring and recognizing several outstanding members of our CSU community who have demonstrated a commitment to the inclusion and empowerment of the student voice and I’d like to share with you all who those individuals are today:

For the second year in a row, President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval from Fresno State was recognized as our Robert C. Maxon President of the Year for his commitment to ensuring students are regarded as equal stakeholders.

CSSA and the Academic Senate of the CSU have forged an amazing partnership. That partnership was made possible because of the empathetic and collaborative leadership of Chair Beth Steffel who we were honored to recognize with our Faculty Excellence of the Year Award. Congratulations also on your reelection as Chair of the ASCSU.

In her first year here at the Chancellor’s Office, Deputy Vice Chancellor Dilcie Perez made intentional efforts to include CSSA in the conversation, actively sought our input on issues from Basic Needs funding allocations to vaccination policies, and quite literally met students where they were at, meeting with students on campus and at CSSA plenaries. Our thanks and congratulations to Deputy Vice Chancellor Perez for receiving our Administrator of the Year Award.

Our Shaun Lumachi Student Advocate of the Year recognizes one outstanding CSU student that has effectively advocated for issues in public higher education. San Jose State AS President Nina Chuang has done that all year. She played an instrumental role in ensuring the acknowledgement and celebration of the history of the APIDA community. President Chuang’s fierce advocacy to support students is felt throughout her campus and the system.

Our Bob Linscheid Trustee of the Year Award recognizes a Trustee whose leadership reflects a commitment to CSSA and whose actions enhance the affordability, accessibility, and quality education in the CSU. Trustee Maria Linares was selected by our Board for this award for her unwavering dedication and tireless commitment to supporting the CSU community in various leadership roles she has held, most notably in her last two years of service to this body. I’d like to invite Trustee Linares to the podium to accept this award on behalf of CSSA.

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And since this is my last meeting as CSSA President, there is one more CSU leader I would like to recognize. I want to express my deep appreciation for the leadership, time, and commitment that has been provided to CSSA by Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester. She and I have had robust, honest, and direct conversations on issues CSU students care most about. She has listened intently, provided feedback, and made herself available to CSSA. On behalf of CSSA, I’d like to present Chancellor Koester with an acrylic art piece titled “Return Home” painted by Tia Pfister (Piff-stir). Tia is a graduate of Fresno State and hopes to pursue a masters degree in art there. The “Return Home” piece was selected specifically for Chancellor Koester who refers to the CSU as home and made the selfless decision to return to the CSU as Chancellor during a difficult time. Thank you Chancellor Koester for your service and I’d like to invite you up to receive this special recognition.

[PAUSE]

May is a time of transition. I am proud to announce the 2023/2024 Executive Officer team of CSSA:

The Vice President of Finance is Jose Jimenez Cruz from Cal Poly Pomona; Vice President of Legislative Affairs  Samantha Alvarez-Chavarria from Dominguez Hills; and our current Chair Varenya Gupta from Cal Poly SLO will be returning as Chair.  With us today, I would like to also introduce our next Vice President of Systemwide Affairs Gali Pompa from Cal Poly Pomona and our President Dominic Treseler from San Jose State.

This diverse executive officer team has already hit the ground running to improve the lives of their fellow CSU students.

As my term as CSSA president winds down, I did some reflections and revisited the remarks I made the first time I reported to this body. Some of the priorities I outlined to you all included: increasing access to mental health services, addressing basic needs and the housing crisis and amplifying the voices of students.

Whether in legislation, campus visits, meetings with campus or system administrators, I am proud of the work that CSSA has done in addressing each of these areas, but most importantly in amplifying the voices of students.

While there may have been challenges this year, I found my motivation day-after-day from CSU students. The students who are first to recognize the problems and issues we face. The students who are the first to get up and propose solutions, show up to public forums, committee meetings, and share their vulnerable and raw experience. The students, who despite the issues they face, are proud members of their campus and CSU community. The students that are hopeful for what we can be and become together. And the reason why we are all gathered here today.

Before I conclude my report, I want to share a few words about and to the Class of 2023. First, congratulations! The road to getting here has not been easy.  We are the class of online instruction, transitioning back to in person, and transitioning back to online. We witnessed social and racial reckoning across our nation. We’ve seen far too much gun violence. We’ve been through election after election that has been considered “the most consequential election of our lifetime.” We’ve learned, loved, lost, grown, healed, celebrated, resisted, and overcome more barriers to obtain our degree.

All of this has amplified who the students of the CSU are, who we have always been, and who we will always be: CSU students are strong, resilient and persistent. We exemplify the best of what this state, this nation, and the world has to offer. We are the influencers, the change agents, the disrupters, the visionaries and the innovators of what is needed to solve the very real problems our society faces. Our potential has no limits. Congratulations again to the class of 2023!

It has been a privilege, an honor, and deeply humbling to have served my half a million peers this year as President of CSSA. I am today, and will always be, proud to have been made in the CSU…twice.

For the last time as CSSA President, Chair Fong, Interim Chancellor Koester, Trustees, Presidents, guests, and most importantly, my fellow students, this concludes my report. Thank you.

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