An Open Letter to the CSULA Community: Past absences and eventual returns

To my esteemed colleagues and friends,

The past month, I have received a noticeable spike in emails and phone calls from fellow CSU Students, most asking the inevitable question as to the date of my return. I find myself both humbled and, indeed, a bit embarrassed at this sudden wave of attention and that my absence would be do deeply noticed by so many. But to avoid speculation and a few arising rumors, I must state that even though this period of inactivity has been quite uncharacteristic of me, this has been quite intentional for the most part.

Earlier last year, I took a conscious decision to step aside and devote less time towards advocacy and outreach due to a belief that a temporary respite would allow time to consider other intellectual and professional pursuits. However, what was meant to be a mere hiatus became prolonged due to the passing of a family relative, a tragedy in of itself, but one that left me with the unexpected responsibility of managing a corporation overseas. As might be suggested, I am currently in Guatemala negotiating a satisfactory settlement in this regard.

While I am sure that some might be entrigeued by stories of the many frustration of dealing with foreign government agencies and of squabbling over vague interpretations of corporate law, personally I am most pleased with the knowledge that if negotiations keep their current pace. I will likely be home before the holidays. However, this time, there will be no further barriers to re-initiating my work as a vocal student advocate.

I know that everyone reading this is aware of the fiscal challenges that the CSU, and indeed the entire California system of higher education, is facing. however the continued silence of students will achieve nothing to their benefit. It will take advocacy, outreach, and continued mobilization to achieve favorable results.

I will be in town this time for the 2011 Winter Quarter, but I would appreciate input before then. What issues do you find in need to attention? Share your thoughts, opinions, and concerns.

Yours in Service,

Carlos Francisco Lopez Jimenez

CSULAleadership@gmail.com

www.csulaleadership.webs.com

Pulic Democracy: Make Yourself Count!

In 2000, 76,800 Los Angeles residents went uncounted, causing the City to lose more than $200 million in state and federal funding.

Latinos as a group have been historically under-represented and undercounted by the Census. Most recently, I have decided to support a city-wide effort to launch the “ya es hora, ¡HÁGASE CONTAR!” (It’s time, make yourself count!) national Census campaign, to ensure that all Latino residents are counted in next year’s Census.

This time, we're trying to correct the problem by informing and empowering the community to participate.

By having an accurate Census, the City will receive its fair share of federal and state funds, have full representation in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, and affect important policy decisions at all levels of government. Data gathered during the Census will be used by governmental and non-governmental agencies for years to come in a manner that will have a direct, lasting, and substantive impact on Angelenos of all ethnic backgrounds and creeds.

Visit http://hagasecontar.yaeshora.info/ for more information on how to make yourself count.

Cal Grants, CSU grants expanded to offset State University Fee increases for recipients (Campus-wide Announcement)

The California State University has received new information regarding increased Cal Grant eligibility for CSU students. This is welcome news for Cal State L.A. students who are eligible for Cal Grants.

With CSU students facing a fee increase of $978 – or 30 percent – the California Student Aid Commission has announced that Cal Grant fee awards will be increased to cover the additional fees. Approximately 16 percent of the more than 400,000 students enrolled among the 23 CSU campuses receive a Cal Grant.

Also, the roughly 109,000 students who receive the CSU State University Grant will receive dollar-for-dollar fee offsets for 2009-10. Federal Pell Grant recipients will receive an increase of $619, and federal higher education tax credits will continue to help families cover expenses other than the State University Fee.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, the annual undergraduate State University Fee is $4,026. Additional fees, which vary slightly by campus, total roughly $800. The CSU Board of Trustees increased the State University Fee to help the CSU manage a $584 million budget deficit caused by the state’s economic crisis. The CSU will also be implementing furloughs to reduce salary costs 10 percent, reducing enrollment, and taking other measures to address the deficit.

After factoring in all available sources of financial aid, CSU students from families making $75,000 or less pay no fees. Many other students, including those from families making up to $180,000, will qualify for financial aid and tax credits.

Helpful links:

Cal Grants: http://www.calgrants.org/

CSU Budget Central: http://blogs.calstate.edu/budgetcentral/

Cal State L.A. Student Financial Aid: http://www.calstatela.edu/univ/finaid/

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Rally at CSU Chancellor's Office

On Tuesday July 21st there will be a vote to raise student fees 20% on top of the 10% fee increase for fall!

Join me in supporting the California State Student Association, the Student Action Coalition, and Students for a Quality Education on this day to speak out against this and budget cuts!

Time: 10am-4pm
Location: 401 Golden Shore
Long Beach, CA 90802

Let me know if you're planning on attending. I'd like to set up a carpool system, so anyone who can drive... please let me know! I myself will leave CSULA at 9:15am.

Free Food, Entertainment, Guest Speakers!!!!

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES - IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING CHANGE IN REGISTRATION DATES FOR FALL QUARTER 2009

Continuing Students,

The University is deferring the first day of continuing student registration from July 21, 2009 to July 28, 2009 when we will be more certain of the course offerings for the Fall 2009 quarter. We apologize for the delay but believe that this action will result in less inconvenience registering for courses for the Fall 2009 quarter.

Please be sure to view your assigned appointment dates in GET. The change in dates will not affect the priority of the registration process for any student classification; we have just moved the registration dates forward one week. Should you have any questions regarding this issue please call the GET Help Line at (323)343-7438.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Joan Woosley
University Registrar and Director of Enrollment Services
California State University, Los Angeles

Rally at the CSU Chancellor's Office July 21, 2009

Hello Everyone,

As you already know the nation and our state are in an economic crisis and all of public education has been hit extremely hard. The Governor and state legislative leaders continue to view public higher education as a target and are proposing massive cuts to higher education. As these government officials fail to provide a solution to our funding crisis, thousands of students are being denied access to universities, classes are being dropped, classrooms have become overcrowded, and faculty are being threatened with non-reappointments and layoffs in high numbers. As frustration increases we cannot stand around and lose hope. We must keep our heads up and continue to take action. That's why on Tuesday, July 21st, at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting, the Chancellor's Office in Long Beach will see a massive mobilization of students coming together to rally and protest the current attacks that our higher educational system is undergoing.

Our plan is to hold a

Rally/Protest
On Tuesday July 21st from 10 - 4pm

Our plan is to shame the Board of Trustee members as they enter their office for allowing the current cuts on education and to put pressure on their decision making for the proposed 2009 - 2010 school year fee hike.

There will also be food, entertainment, & guest speakers

The address is: 401 Golden Shore
Long Beach, CA 90802

An Open Letter to CSULA Students Regarding Student Safety and Privacy

“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.”

Obviously, student privacy is a very important privilege that we, as students, are loathe to relinquish. For this reason, to keep personally identifying information on a more confidential basis, Campus Identification Numbers, perhaps better known as CINs, began to take the place of Social Security numbers as the official means of identifying students on our University records. Still, CINs are held by University standards and confidential information that is not permitted to be disclosed for public view.

We already know that CINs play an important part our lives as students. We use this information to access our transcripts, access our financial aid, enroll in classes, and now we can even use it to create new bank accounts. One would believe that such sensitive information would be kept secure under the strictest of guidelines, however, as of Thursday May 14, 2009, it came to my attention after a tip-off from a member of the newly elected Beltran slate that this identifying information was available for public view on a campus department website. Sadly, this was not an isolated incident of a few CINs being disclosed as the website contained the records of every single enrolled student for every quarter dating back as far as the past 4 years.

First, before going into an uproar, I would like to commend the actions of Vice President for Student Affairs and his staff for immediately taking action to remedy this incident after I alerted him to this breach in security. Because of their quick and decisive actions, the website was stripped of this information as of Friday May 15, 2009 at approximately 3:00 PM. However, the fact that such information was on a University funded website is inexcusable and irresponsible.

Yes, I did file a complaint with ASI based on the fact that this situation may have compromised the ASI Elections. After all, during these ASI elections, all that was needed to vote was a CIN of a currently enrolled student. There was no need for any verifying information and if a candidate or slate had knowledge of a website with this information posted, this leads to the automatic suspicion that all votes may not have been valid. And with the danger of sounding repetitive, I first learned of this issue from a member of the Beltran slate. However, this goes far beyond the validity of a simple ASI election. This deals directly with the safety of identifying student information that was posted online that provides an avenue for possible abuse. With such sensitive information floating around, the repercussions are almost too horrible to imagine but include grade tampering, fraud, and even identity theft.

Let’s make this very clear. Policies and guidelines, when created to provide for the safety of students, should be followed, not broken or amended to fit the desires of a few individuals who have displayed a history of irresponsibility in the past. It is my personal opinion that everyone should be held to be accountable for their actions and to the same standards as any other person. Whether incidents like this happen today or a year from now, we as students should take an active role in ensuring the future success of the continued quality of our education.