With recent news of Sonoma State University’s President Judy Sakaki using student tuition money to pay part of a $600,000 settlement and the lack of student representation in a budget committee tasked to remove $5.5 million from the budget, it seems like SSU does not value student voices or opinions.
SSU students feel like the university does not care about the well-being of students, and that using tuition money to pay the settlement is unacceptable. Morgan Newens, a third year Criminal Justice and Criminology major said, “I think that lack of student representation shows our schools true colors. They don’t really care about the students but rather about how much money we bring in. It definitely feels like students are just walking dollar signs to this administration. I think that COVID-19 definitely plays a role in the disconnect between administration, faculty and students, but it’s no excuse to completely disregard student input, especially about such a huge financial matter. I am spending over $20,000 per year, students better get a say in how our money is spent.”
The students that should be vocal about these issues are the ones that aren’t saying anything. Those in Associated Students (AS) should be speaking up about Sakaki, as their mission statement reads, “The mission of the Associated Students of Sonoma State University (AS), a student run, student led auxiliary corporation, is to enrich the lives of students and build a sense of community.” There is no sense of community at a school where those with voices and platforms don’t stand up with or for the students who don’t.
On April 27, two weeks after the news of the settlement was released, AS announced a Seawolves Speak Series, which is open to all students to talk about concerns and issues at SSU. At these three one hour discussion sessions, up to 44 students can join. This may be due to limited space, but 44 seats does not seem like enough to represent the over 8000 students at SSU.
Though this does open the door to communication with AS, it has come after students publicly expressed their opinions with signs and protests on campus. Multiple messages written in chalk also appeared on campus on April 26, calling for Sakaki’s resignation. Some of the messages read, “How many more?” “Consent matters y’all,” and “Lobo would never approve.” One message was written outside Sakaki’s office, but was washed off by maintenance early in the morning.
On April 26, communications major Emma Molloy started an online petition demanding that Sakaki be held accountable for her actions. The petition has received over 1000 signatures from SSU students. One student wrote as their reason for signing, “As if paying full tuition during a pandemic while having 0 access to campus wasn’t bad enough, we are now paying for her husband’s behavior. Students didn’t do this. He did. Why are we paying for it?”
Another student wrote, “Sakaki is hurting more than her fellow faculty. Student voices need to be heard and she was supposed to be responsible for addressing our needs. The best thing she can do is own up to it and move on.”
