Sean McMinn
smcminn@mustangdaily.net
Cal Poly’s road to semesters met with another obstacle this past week, as an email saying there was no official system mandate to convert made the rounds through faculty, but California State University (CSU) officials say the email does not contradict President Jeffrey Armstrong’s announcement of an impending switch.
In the email, which was addressed to faculty senators at CSU San Bernardino, Academic Senate Chair and psychology professor Jodie Ullman wrote that CSU Chancellor Timothy White would not require the school to convert to semesters and was not planning a mandate for the system to collectively do so. She wrote the email after a discussion with CSU, San Bernardino President Tomas Morales, which followed communications between him and White.
Ullman did not respond to a voicemail Monday, and CSU San Bernardino spokesperson Joe Gutierrez referred questions about semester conversion to the CSU chancellor’s office.
Some are calling this email a departure from the all-but-sure conversion plan Armstrong announced to the campus community in March. Then, he said the university would likely convert to semesters as part of a larger CSU effort, originating from multiple conversations between Armstrong and White. The plan, as announced, was to conclude a systemwide conversion with Cal Poly entering the planning phase by 2020.
Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier said he was made aware of the email Monday, but didn’t see a contradiction from the university’s previous message. It falls in line, Lazier said, with what Armstrong told campus in March.
“We don’t see much difference in what’s said in the email versus the note that was sent out to campus earlier,” Lazier said.
Lazier explained that the language in Armstrong’s email did not definitively refer to a semester mandate, but instead informed campus of continuing discussions between White and other university stakeholders: “The Chancellor is … moving toward a decision that the quarter-based campuses should convert to semesters in phases,” the March note read.
Some on campus, however, disagree. Cal Poly English professor Todd Pierce, who forwarded Ullman’s email to colleagues, wrote to Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts faculty and staff that San Bernardino’s situation had “obvious” implications for Cal Poly.
“At this point, it will be impossible for the administration to further pursue semester conversion (without) either our President or our Chancellor backtracking on the statements written and reported in these documents,” Pierce wrote in his email.
The documents Pierce referred to included Ullman’s email, as well as a letter Armstrong wrote to White in February in which he recommended Cal Poly not convert to semesters. In the letter, Armstrong cited evidence found by the Semester Review Task Force — which he appointed to examine conversion in September — suggesting Cal Poly should stay on quarters. Armstrong also admitted in the letter the pro-semester opinion he held in fall, but that he had since changed positions.
CSU spokesperson Liz Chapin also said Ullman’s email did not add new information, but instead represented one person’s opinion on recent semester discussions. She said White has not yet made a formal decision on semesters, but prefers the system, and will likely end negotiations with a mandate.
“I don’t want to look into exactly what the message was behind that email,” Chapin said. “But it was correct by saying there’s no mandate — as of right now.”
The San Bernardino email was first forwarded to leadership in the California Faculty Association (CFA) — the union that represents faculty throughout the CSU — by CSU San Bernardino physics professor and local CFA official Karen Kolehmainen. She said her campus, which is located east of Los Angeles, was under the impression all CSU universities would need to be on semesters by 2020, similar to Cal Poly’s deadline to begin conversion.
“Last week, there was this email from our chair of our faculty senate, saying that she had gotten a phone call from President Morales,” Kolehmainen said. “He had just spoken to Chancellor White on the phone that same day, and had been told that no, there was not a mandate to switch.”
It is still unclear to professors at CSU San Bernardino whether they will be forced to convert to semesters. Kolehmainen, a 25-year CSU veteran, said Ullman is trusted as a reliable source of information, but said she’s received “mixed messages” from the chancellor’s office before.
Kolehmainen said faculty at CSU San Bernardino are split 50-50 on semesters versus quarters, but some expect more confusion from the chancellor’s office before an official decision is made.
“We’re just in the situation where we’re waiting to see if this is in fact the final word,” Kolehmainen said. “Or if there’s going to be yet another reversal.”