Foundation bans tobacco sales, pays to move Gonzalez

Sarah Anderson

Tobacco sales will be banned on campus as of Aug. 1, and an undisclosed amount of money will be given to President Alex Gonzalez for relocation because of two agenda items the CSUS Foundation passed at its meeting Friday.

The ceasing of tobacco sales on campus was requested in March by Students Taking Action Against Nicotine Dependence.ASI President Eric Guerra questioned the board’s move to stop selling tobacco products.

“Does anybody have the right to tell students not to smoke?” Guerra said.

The Foundation also divested its tobacco stock at a loss of $112,000.

The Foundation is a $100 million organization, according to an independent audit, which is set up as a charity to receive tax exemptions.

Elroy Littlefield, executive director of the CSUS Foundation, did not return calls by deadline as to if the Foundation would have divested if the tobacco stock would have been worth millions of dollars rather than $112,000.

The board also looked into the cost of relocating President Gonzalez from San Marcos to Sacramento. The cost of the move is unknown, and Littlefield was authorized by the board to negotiate with Gonzalez for a relocation-housing loan. The terms of the loan are unknown at this time and are dependent on the type of house Gonzalez chooses.

ASI President Eric Guerra unsuccessfully lobbied the board for an extra $10,000 in addition to the $75,000 the Foundation gives to ASI for grants and contracts, but the request was denied.”We’re feeding too many mouths,” said Vice President and Chief of Staff to the President’s Office, Elizabeth Moulds.Littlefield tried to show why the Foundation could not give more funding to ASI.

“We have unknowns. The state budget is hitting everyone hard. The increasing cost of health care is an enormous hit on our budget. We are not sure of USGS. We have the Napa Hall. The rentals are weak on the south side of Highway 50,” Littlefield said.The board also approved new pay ranges under newly established guidelines for the minimum salary standard. The CSUS employees who are above the new standard must also be accessed.

“The ones in the highest salary ranges need to be looked at very carefully and very discreetly because they are our best people,” said Dean Marion O’Leary of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “Don’t redline them, or they will leave.

Consider them on a case by case basis.”

The next foundation meeting on Sept. 19.

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