Cal Poly Pomona P&R initiative

[PL28]

Just saw that Cal Poly Pomona Prioritization and Recovery Committee has recommended additional funding for our athletics department as well as other recommendations around campus. I believe you can also offer suggestion on each proposal as well if you are a stakeholder.

Let hope this is a jump start for our administration focusing back on our academics and athletics at CPP.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~prioritization/proposals.shtml

[jayandbutton]

i'm glad to see this at long last, PL. i just signed my support of athletics, which has been under resourced for more years than anybody can count.

we can't have an on-campus basketball tournament for example because we neither have a decent venue nor any funds to bring in anybody. it's amazing how we've done as well as we have with so little support.

[Admin]

Thanks PL28 for the link.

Originally Posted by http://www.csupomona.edu/~prioritization/proposals2007/athletics.shtml

While athletics has helped build a national identity for Cal Poly Pomona, the university has not reciprocated in staffing and facility support. The university’s athletic facilities must rank among the worst in Southern California. Bleachers at the soccer field were formally condemned years ago, but have yet to be physically removed. Scolinos Field does not have restrooms or locker rooms on site. Neither Darlene May Gymnasium nor Kellogg Gymnasium has air conditioning, frequently forcing athletes to practice in an unhealthy environment....
More info...

[Admin]

Originally Posted by http://www.csupomona.edu/~prioritization/proposals.shtml

#5 The Fine Art department is moved to the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS).
#6 The College of Education and Integrative Studies (CEIS) would be reorganized into a proposed School of Education within CLASS.
#7 Graphic Design is separated from the Fine Art program and moved as a stand-alone program into the College of Business Administration

When the Fine Art (currently in the College of Environmental Design) department be moved to CLASS, shouldn't Graphic Design remain under the Fine Art program and under CLASS too? Why would they propose putting 'Graphic Design' under the College of Business?

[jayandbutton]

so many of these plans are utterly ridciulous, but simply aimed not on quality but the "bottom line." this university has absolutely lost its heart and its soul and now has all the trappings of a corporation rather than a family-type community. so many faculty and staff have left that we can't even function in some academic areas.

we old timers have seen this place now on a fifteen year slide, and now it's affecting us not simply on campus but across the nation. our rankings keep sliding, our morale keeps dipping, and all we see for solutions is more executive pay raises and little else.

we once were a fine university, truly polytechnic. now we are but a shell of that, tragically.

[xiaoxue]

i can make some comment on this, too. in the five years i was at cal poly pomona the college of business went from a very student-oriented place to one that was so bad that they even posted signs forbidding you to stand or sit outside of classrooms! then when you went into the classrooms in bldg. 6 you sometimes had to play musical chairs because there weren't enough of them in the rooms and students then sat on the floor. we no longer got advice because the dean fired the director of the student advising center.

in that five year period four student clubs i know folded. they never were replaced. one very popular professor who advised several of those clubs resigned and he never was replaced. the new faculty said they couldn't spend time with students anymore because they had to do research instead.

in spite of all the problems i had planned to stay on for an MBA. then the new dean fired the graduate director, tons of other faculty and staff, and eliminated all of the exciting international programs as well as the off-campus centers, apparently to save money. what happened was the graduate program stopped growing and instead shrunk from over 850 students to around 150 and i knew this program was lost.

it seems that every year i was at cal poly pomona executives kept getting higher and higher six figure salary raises while student fees kept going up, apparently to pay for higher executive pay. but we never saw any improvements in classes, and almost everyone i know needed five, six, and even seven years to graduate.

friends tell me there was a near riot on campus on oct. 31, as about 500 students stormed the president's mansion (where he lives for free) and asked for more classes. he blew them off because he was late for a dinner party.

now cal poly pomona is in such a total mess that many good students like me left for other cal states and other schools, and the leadership there keeps cashing bigger and bigger checks and doing nothing for it.

this campus reorganization is supposed to save $800,000, but nobody can explain where that number came from, nor can anybody identify who decided to cut the colleges from eight to four. now i'm told that the faculty senate has refused to act on the matter because the president without a clue has offered no guidance or leadership.

wow, and he makes a quarter million a year for this? and you guys bang on me because i'm now at fullerton? students like dr. gordon and we are moving forward, not into the black hole.

[lakdod]

Originally Posted by xiaoxue

wow, and he makes a quarter million a year for this? and you guys bang on me because i'm now at fullerton? students like dr. gordon and we are moving forward, not into the black hole.

we do not bang on you for going to fullerton. i like alot of things about the fullerton campus. there education program in some areas are way better than pomona. I just get mad at you for dissing some of the broncos program and i try to find facts about fullerton sports program. i mean you can still support the program even if you already graduated. even though the women team the last two years did not have a great season i still support their efforts. fullerton has a great baseball and softball team to name a few, but basketball is average compare to the rest of the big west in my opinion, but if i went there i would support the school through the good and bad times. i actually hope fullerton is a better this year than last year. i like to see the local university in so cal succed.

xiaxoue we had a protest in our school which was pretty smart. dr. ortiz had a big meeting with alot of donors and somebody who supported the students who was also angered about cut classes in the math and science department tip them off. they organized a huge rally which i heard embarassed some of the donors and dr. ortiz. anyways if he is introduced at any basketball games this year. i am going to boo him.

[Admin]

Originally Posted by lakdod

xiaxoue we had a protest in our school which was pretty smart. dr. ortiz had a big meeting with alot of donors and somebody who supported the students who was also angered about cut classes in the math and science department tip them off. they organized a huge rally which i heard embarassed some of the donors and dr. ortiz. anyways if he is introduced at any basketball games this year. i am going to boo him.

Don't you want to support the individual for collaborating a student rally against class cuts and mismanagement of school finance?

[lakdod]

Originally Posted by Admin

Don't you want to support the individual for collaborating a student rally against class cuts and mismanagement of school finance?

i do not who told them. i just know the story because one of my classmate told me in brief about the situation. If you want to see the video of the protest its on you tube. I found it by typing cal poly pomona. i give the person mad props for the organization because it shows with right timing a protest can be effective.

[Admin]

YouTube Video

You may remember the university librarian who tried to save the books that were being discarded in the trash bins because the university wanted to replace thousands of books with new ones when the expansion project is complete. Here is a clip recorded by the librarian (former?) Bruce Emerton whom also was an Academic Senate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

YouTube Video

More info...

[xiaoxue]

hey, huge props to you guys for posting these you tube links!

when i was a student at poly i was like almost everybody else, apathetic about most stuff other than maybe bronco basketball. but now i am older i am beginning to realize how wrong it is for these campus executives to keep accepting bigger and bigger pay raises and doing NOTHING for students. you guys bring to light the fact that ortiz is more into dinner parties than DOING SOMETHING (and i don't mean offering a pizza session) for the student body.

a friend of mine had an idea. if these big shots REALLY cared about students they would take those $70,000 pay raises and donate them to student scholarships, not their bank accounts. have you ever seen that happen?

lakdod, i'm proud to be a bronco, and i would have stayed there if i saw any hope for me and the college of business. now the blight has spread all over campus, and the sleepy president just gives speeches and serves pizza and nothing else.

i am going to a few bronco games this year just to boo that guy along with you. i see a big difference in dr. gordon, the fullerton president. that's probably why we are moving in the right direction and not the wrong one and why pomona is getting passed by in both academics and sports.

at fullerton, the faculty support all kinds of student activities and make students their first priority, not their research and publication junk. at pomona, in the college of business alone more than a half dozen student clubs were disbanded for lack of faculty support. why? because it was not considered important by the idiot dean, who also got a huge pay raise of course.

lakdod, at the next pizza lunch with the prez why not ask him to donate his raise to student scholarships? i sure would. prediction: you will get a BS answer, like the student did when he was asked about his raise and he said he had no role in it. THEN GIVE THE FREAKIN' MONEY TO STUDENTS!!!!!

[jayandbutton]

WOW!!!!

i thought i knew what was going on around campus but these posts are absolutely stunning.

every student, staff, and faculty should screen the video from the senator who resigned as he identifies so many issues that have been stonewalled or paid lip service to. but with people of courage leaving positions of authority it only opens the door for even more administrative abuses--and as you put it, xiaoxue, ripping students off.

i noted on the other video the administrator speaking refused to apologize. why, i wonder, for it wasn't the students who cancelled all those classes. it wasn't students getting huge pay raises; it was haughty administrators who won't apologize for the mess they created.

now i understand the faculty senate has resigned from the P&R process because the president provided no guidance, no vision, no leadership. now the president has responded with very little of substance, and it would appear that all of the restructuring and balkanization will be abandoned after months of stress and finger pointing.

talk about a campus in total turmoil! i've never seen anything like this in more than twenty years, and it likely will take that long just to repair all the damage this leadership team has done, in your old college of business xiaoxue, in your liberal arts college lakdod, in engineering PL28, and most of all, it would seem, in our college of science. it is absolutely impressive to see about 500 students unify for a cause; i've not seen this since the old vietnam war protests when i was in high school.

yet administrators keep giving speeches about how great we are. what kind of weed are they on? or does this emperor with no clothes scene allow them even more big raises?

when will be bleeding end? are we in for even more pain?

[lakdod]

The school is falling apart, but at the same time I want to stay. I guess my opinion might change. well it look like I am graduating next school year with my degree, but now I do not know if I want to do my credentials here. Like xiaxoue alot of the students are seeing the blueprint on the wall and going elsewhere. I will probally do it in Pomona, but I am afraid of how bad the situations is getting. Dr. Ortiz seem like a nice man, but he has to go if this continues. Before I did not care about the situation, but I realize if we do not act now we might have nothing to save for future students. I guess the next pizza meeting I will try to attend. If i go I will defintently do research and asked why other university are rising while Pomona is falling. i mean do only care about the engineers and collins. while they bury other departments.

[lakdod]

Oh yeah I won 25 dollars from rideshare last night and it made me realized. what are they going to do with the extra money after the structure is paid off. I mean 270 dollars a year is alot for a students. we have 19,000 students about 7000 probally buy a pass which I do not know but is a good qiestion to asl. that mean the school made atleast 2 million dollars in parking pass in a year. I wonder if they are wisely spending the money.

[lakdod]

Oh yeah if anybody wants to know about how everything operates in california. take the pls class on the california governement. you will learn so much about california especially about the education system. Tuition would cost as much as SC and LMU if the state did not allocate money to the state universities. I know much of you would disagree, but I would be in favor of a tution increase in all cal states if it meant the best education possible for the students.

[PL28]

I sort of agree with you lakdod, if the school can allocate more resources for the students, I'm also in favor of a tuition increase. But only if the administration is willing to make changes to better serve the student body.

[xiaoxue]

it seems that every time you see a hike in student fees the only thing that goes up as a direct result is executive salaries.

do you ever see any student services improve?

oh yeah, and then you also get a hike in parking fees like lakdod sez.

the only way the students will see positive change at poly is by getting rid of all the current crew, getting a board of students and honest faculty manage the monies. and that will never happen.

they talk quality and excellence and offer nothing but excuses for their big pay raises. that's why cal poly pomona is going down in flames, folks.

and that's why i'm giving nothing as an alumni of the school.

[jayandbutton]

i remember almost 25 years ago they were talking about the new business building going up, xiaoxue. there have been several models even on display in the ensuing decades but that's as close as we ever got.

meanwhile, your school at fullerton is nearing completion on a named, endowed building in the $80 million range, twice the size of the peanut that still is "planned" next to the rose garden. the latest news is that unless a lot more money is raised--and that never has happened in history--the expected building will be smaller than envisioned, and not even big enough to house all of the faculty and staff.

but on the other hand if business keeps heading toward its nadir and the tailspin does not stop, the students will go elsewhere in droves and then the little building, if ever done, will be big enough. some say we're on the way to losing accreditation. if that happens it will be a slam dunk.

on the point you guys make about students, i agree. students keep getting ripped off here. the parking costs are obscene, the book costs higher than other college bookstores, and the student services are worse. most other cal states have state of the art fitness facilities like those at SLO, for free. here you have to pay monthly fees to join the club and you get less product. and if you like to swim we probably have the worst facilities in the CSU. it's so bad i go to the local junior college instead.

[Admin]

The November 27th issue of the Poly Post writes about suspending (postponing?) the Prioritization & Recovery (P&R) of Cal Poly Pomona due to:

Originally Posted by The Poly Post

"No consensus of a shared vision of how the campus should develop has been achieved, detailed directions in Prioritization and Recovery recommendations on how to get there (wherever that may be) are contradictory and divisive."

This summary supports the accusations of ambiguity the initiative has been charged with.

The resolution also points out the issue of not enough time being given for warning the campus of such a drastic act.

"Original deadlines for information input to the Prioritization and Recovery process were not met, holding faculty consideration of complex curricular issues to the now very short time interval remaining in the original schedule is unreasonable," the document stated.

Roger Morehouse, former chair of the Academic Senate, received the task of composing the resolution and presented it to the body.

"The senators have been somewhat upset by the way the P&R [initiative] has been moving," said Morehouse.....
http://media.www.thepolypos t.com/media/storage/paper1127/news/2007/11/27/News/Pr.Initiative.Suspen ded-3115893.shtml

[Admin]

Cal Poly Pomona's president Dr. Ortiz presented a video recording regarding the P&R of the university. The PolyCentric article can be found here (along with the transcript PDF). The video links do not work so here is complete transcript of the video:

Originally Posted by http://polycentric.csupomon a.edu/news.asp?id=1852

Hello everybody and welcome to my final video message of the 2007 calendar year. I know many of you are getting ready for the holiday season but let me to bring you up to date after a very busy few weeks with some important campus issues.

• Fall quarter has been a whirlwind of activity. It has certainly been the most active since my arrival. Much of that is due to the incredible dialogue created by the Prioritization and Recovery initiative. I know that this has not been easy for many of you, dealing with the uncertainty of change and wondering how it could impact your program and our students. Many of the proposals created controversy, especially those that addressed the restructuring of colleges. I purposefully stayed away from the process, including questions about the recommendations, to ensure that our colleagues had the opportunity to express their opinions without any assumed bias on my part. I charged the Steering Committee with vetting all of the ecommendations and only sending those proposals forward that had been validated by a clear process. But the sheer magnitude of the recommendations and the relatively short window of time for analysis were not viewed positively by the university community. I was called on to take charge of the process and decided that we needed to step back and reevaluate.

On November 14, the Academic Senate called for a suspension of the Prioritization and Recovery initiative until some identified problems could be addressed. Last week, I met with the entire Senate to address those issues and discuss ways that we can work together to move the university forward.

But for the university to truly move forward, it is clear that we need to redirect our attention. Therefore, all of the recommendations from the prioritization process have been suspended for now. I felt that the university community had become too focused on how the individual recommendations affected them instead of the looking at the strands that were the underpinnings of the proposals. So we will stop, make an assessment of what we are doing and create a different approach. Based on the feedback I received from the Senate, this may evolve into a full-fledged strategic plan, one that will allow us toutilize the important work of the prioritization committees, and combine it with new information that will help define the future of Cal Poly Pomona.

• I also want to say a few things to those of you that who participated in the P&R process. Your work resulted in one of most powerful dialogues in university history. We charged you with making bold recommendations, supported by data supplied by the many departments and programs - and you delivered. This entire university community owes a great deal of gratitude to the members of the academic and support programs committees for their dedication to Cal Poly Pomona and willingness to serve as true trustees. I also appreciate the countless people who came together this quarter to raise their voices. Early on, I asked the Steering Committee to create a consultative process and they produced one that engaged faculty, staff, students, alumni and external stakeholders. This effort resulted in an incredible amount of feedback and information that will be retained to inform the future process.

• This fall also featured a large protest from students and faculty on the potential loss of class sections in the College of Science for th