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During his annual Spring Address, Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez said the campus community must work together to overcome Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts and implement the university’s Strategic Plan.

Gonzalez said he wanted to share the stage with Provost Joseph Sheley, Faculty Senate President Bruce Bikle, Associated Students Inc. President Christina Romero and Syracuse University professor Vincent Tinto, underscoring his goal to work closely with the campus’ constituencies during his 15-minute speech.

The audience of approximately 500 was made up of mostly Sac State faculty and staff with only a handful of students in attendance. The address was given four days before the start of classes for the spring semester.

Economic downturns and budget cuts are cyclical and everyone of the Sac State community needs to work together to get through the next couple of years of the current crisis, Gonzalez said.

“We need to continue to plan and behave in such a way that we are going to be able to do what we can to provide the best education we can to our students,” he said.

Gonzalez said he viewed the budget crisis as both a challenge and opportunity.

There are three areas in which the budget cuts will have a negative impact on the university: access to the university, the Sac State workforce and bringing in underrepresented students, Gonzalez said.

Budget cuts will not affect the building of the Science II facility that is to be completed in 2010. Money is already in place for the project and is not contingent on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposed 2008-09 budget, Gonzalez said.

On a positive note, he said, enrollment is high for the spring semester, as well as rates of applications and acceptance for next year.

The university will form a partnership with the City of Sacramento to increase the university’s presence in the downtown area in the next few months, Gonzalez said.

He also said the university was able to raise $16.4 million last year. Much of the money went toward student scholarships, he said.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph Sheley spoke on the need to move quickly to implement the Strategic Plan. He said a plan that will focus to improve enrollment, retention and graduation rates is very important.

“This is not a guidepost of the Strategic Plan, but a directive,” Sheley said.

Faculty Senate President Bruce Bikle said in his address to the crowd that in spite of the strife caused by the faculty contract negotiations and the faculty no-confidence vote on Gonzalez last spring, the faculty and administration have made a lot of strides in working together in the past year.

The no-confidence referendum passed 77 percent for and 23 percent against. Nearly two-thirds of the faculty participated in the vote.

In order to meet the challenges of the budget, the university needs to be focused on the future, Bikle said.

“It is the future that matters,” he said. “As a part of that, we need to foster and develop a community culture based on respect and open discourse.”

Romero said she believed the proposed budget cuts can be overcome if the community works together.

“We can pull together to make sure students realize their dreams of graduating from college,” she said.

Syracuse University education professor Vincent Tinto, who was on campus to give a keynote address on student success and accountability and was invited by Gonzalez to participate in the address, said it was good to see the campus working together in planning for the future.

Tinto said that changes to the university proposed by the Strategic Plan take time. These types of changes are a five-to-10 year process, he said.

In response to the address, Lila Jacobs, California Faculty Association Sac State Chapter President said that this may be a moment where the union, administration, CSU Board of Trustees, and the chancellor can find common ground to get more money in the state budget for higher education.

Gary Davis, executive director for Alumni Relations and mayor of the City of Elk Grove, said he appreciated Gonzalez’s optimistic view on the budget crisis.

Davis also said he thought it was a good idea to have the ASI and Faculty Senate president involved in the presentation.

Criminal justice professor Cecil Canton said he did not think it was much of an address. “Instead of talking about riding out the storm, we should be discussing what can be done to make sure the budget cuts do not happen,” he said.

Todd Wilson can be reached at [email protected].

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