As the winter draws to an end, it’s not just time for sunshine in the sky, but also sunshine for the way that our state university system is run. Senator Leland Yee is calling on the California State University system and all branches of higher education, to open up their books when it comes to the auxiliary organizations on their campuses.
Yee’s reintroduced legislation is similar to SB 218, which would have updated the California Public Records Act to include those auxiliaries that perform government functions. This shows his commitment to making sure our higher education system is working for students, and not executive donors or special interests within the university system.
Yee’s new bill, SB 330 passed through the senate floor last Thursday and will be seen in the state assembly shortly.
This level of transparency is necessary for students, faculty and community members to have the knowledge and power to serve as a check on how their university operates. For the CSU system alone, Chancellor Charles B. Reed has admitted that 20 percent of the system’s operating budget is funded by budgets which are kept secret from the public, within the myriad campus and system auxiliaries.