In a recent interview with the STAR, intermittent President Dr. Cutrer was asked about plans to maintain a sense of community and engagement on campus amidst cuts and eliminations.
She responded, saying, “There isn’t a plan as such. I would love for us as administrators to pull some students together and say what is it that we need to be doing, we need to be investing in, in order to get more student engagement. You all need to come up with it. Students should be coming together and saying, ‘this is what we want, this is what we need, this is what we think will work.’”
So, we asked students. Here’s what they want, and hopefully, the administration is listening.
Jordan Anagnostou, third-year environmental science, geography, and management major – “Sonoma State has a lot to offer but has seen a significant decline due to many reasons, not just one. I believe Sonoma State should re-evaluate their student population/ community to properly define what needs to be reinvested in. From my biased perspective (Club Baseball President), as an academic institution, SSU should begin to reinvest in academic programs/schools such as the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Nursing, School of Business and Economics, and the Wine Business Institute.
Unfortunately, much of these investments in these programs can only be addressed once our budget deficit is resolved. The responsibility of these failures to the student body, which have led to the cuts and elimination, is shared by many. Prior administrations at Sonoma State in Judy Sakakai and other administrative leaders in the CSU chancellor system share this blame. Cutrer, now put into a leadership position in a critical period, has made tough decisions which we hope as a student is in the best interest for the longevity of the university and their academic programs.”
Nikolai Friedman, fourth-year music B.M – “Sonoma State needs to add a sense of pride to its students. There’s a loss of pride after the announcement of cutting athletics and majors. If your favorite sports team isn’t playing well, you start to lose interest and pride in being a fan because it’s embarrassing seeing your team do poorly. I think SSU students feel like they’re on the losing team- Sonoma State’s putting up the white flag and just accepting defeat. We need to keep athletics and the things that are being cut. No one wants to see any of these things go. It’s my role to play well so people can rally behind us, and it’s the school’s role to keep things going.
The students add culture at Sonoma, but if we don’t have these things, then we start to lose that culture and pride. SSU wants people to come here. It’s their responsibility to bring awareness to all the great things that their school has to offer, like the sports teams and majors that are doing well and the music that’s being played. It’ll be interesting to see what the numbers for incoming freshmen are like next year.”
Molly O’Connor, second-year human development major –“Sonoma State University is a beautiful campus with so much to offer. We have amaz- ing students here on campus, although I believe we struggle with involvement. We are low in numbers at events and on-campus activities, and we should take a look at the activities we are offering and alter them to have more involvement from the students. I think we should look back on the events that had the most attendance and do those instead of less successful ones. Investing in events that have more impact on the students and a better turnout will lead to Sonoma State becoming a more involved campus.
For example, we could host more affordable concerts on the lawn or the Green Music Center. The GMC hosted a concert back in August that had a great turnout. Another example that could help is adding more funding to clubs and organizations on campus, helping them host more events, and making the students aware of them to help them grow. I believe that AS students have started to do this. I have noticed a change in the campus involvement and I’m excited to see what’s to come!”
McLovin Lincoln, third-year communications & media studies major – “I think Sonoma State needs to continue to invest in athletics because they bring in sponsorship money to our campus. Old Caz is an example of a Sonoma State sponsor who will always support the athletics. There, they have a #SaveSeawolvesAthletics banner where people can sign it in support of the athletics. With all of the cuts, I don’t see trust in our university. If the President wants “to get more student engagement,” then stop cutting student engagement; it makes no sense at all and makes people transfer out.
I think the President, the administration, the Chancellor, and the Governor should take responsibility for their actions because “isn’t a plan” is a complete embarrassment to Sonoma State, and this embarrassment has reached nationwide on social media where big brands use Sonoma State as an example of what not to do as a University.”
Amanda Ripic, fourth-year psychology major – “I don’t feel that campus is engaging at all and I don’t believe that it is the students’ fault. The campus has not made any effort to create an inviting community and should recognize that before this is able to be fixed the school should put effort into building this cohesive environment for students. The president should not make the students do it all.”
Katelynn Stocks, 2nd-year Psychology Major – “As a student who recently became a part of the HSSA Dean’s Student Advisory Council, we had an open discussion with the Dean herself and a few other student members talking about the current atmosphere of Sonoma State University. This interaction opened my eyes to my personal feeling that Sonoma State University should look into investing in improving or uplifting its current programs and resources. While we have unfortunately lost many amazing programs, both athletic and academic, and we should not ignore what we lost, uplifting the things SSU has to offer currently could help foster new feelings of hope and resilience for our community.
I recognize that this is something that will take time and collective effort, so it is difficult to directly assess who is responsible for maintaining and growing the SSU community. I agree with President Curter’s statement saying that administrators, faculty, and staff members should come together and say, ‘this is what we want, this is what we need, this is what we think will work.”
