CFA TO HOLD HEARINGS IN SAN JOSE ON HIGHER EDUCATION CRISIS

Media Advisory

CFA TO HOLD HEARINGS IN SAN JOSE ON HIGHER EDUCATION CRISIS

A March 14 hearing at San Jose State University will bring together
faculty, students, community and business leaders to discuss and make
proposals for resolving the crises confronting the California State
University system.

The hearing is the first step for the California Faculty Association ­
which represents 20,000 CSU faculty ­ in a "Future of the CSU" project. A
second hearing will be held at Cal State, Los Angeles in May. Ultimately,
all 22 campuses communities will be engaged in the process of developing
a vision and working plan for preserving and improving the quality,
accessibility and affordability of the largest higher education system in
the nation.

"CSU is facing profound challenges to its 40-year mission of making
available a quality higher education to all Californians," said CFA
President Susan Meisenhelder. "A combination of crises are now
threatening our universities. They include inadequate public funding; a
demographic explosion of college-age students; an inability to attract
and employ new full-time faculty; a failed process of decision-making;
and a policy vacuum that has set the system adrift. This deadly
combination threatens to bring down the farsighted California Higher
Education Master Plan of the 1960s," added Meisenhelder.

The CFA is appealing to all sectors of the campus community and the
public at large to enter into a working relationship, beginning March 14
in San Jose, to save the CSU for future generations of Californians.

"The response at SJSU has been very gratifying," said Jack Kurzweil, an
electrical engineering professor and president of the local CFA chapter.
"We are doing everything we can to accommodate everyone who has already
asked to testify. We're getting responses, not only from San Jose and the
Silicon Valley but from across the nation," he continued. For more
information, please check the CFA website: <www.calfac.org>.

ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA FACULTY ASSOCIATION
The California Faculty Association (CFA) represents 20,000 full and
part-time professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, department
chairs and coaches at the 22 campuses of the California State University
(CSU) system. CSU's enrollment is more than 350,000 full and part-time
students.

CFA is affiliated with the American Association of University Professors,
National Education Association, California Teachers Association,
California State Employees Association and Service Employees
International Union, AFL-CIO.

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