SR 19-06 - SR 19-06 Resolution on the Role of Shared Governance in Budgeting

WHEREAS the Chancellor and the Statewide Academic Senate have agreed that collaboration and mutual respect are key components of shared governance (2), and

WHEREAS Academic Planning & Budgeting supports the Academic Affairs community in accomplishing its goals through planning and the allocation of resources, by providing analysis and information that enhance divisional and institutional decision-making, strategic planning, and resource optimization, and

WHEREAS as the Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee shall serve the Provost in an advisory capacity on matters regarding the amount, structure, and distribution of the budget of Academic Affairs, and

WHEREAS the Budget and Planning Office is “to facilitate effective and efficient allocation and utilization of financial resources in a timely manner and in accordance with fiscally sound principles that support the University’s strategic planning and decision-making processes”, and WHEREAS the Strategic Resource Planning Committee supports a commitment to transparency and awareness, President Erika D. Beck has appointed the Strategic Resource Planning Committee to advise on the development of the university budget and to further the campus-wide understanding of the next budget, and

WHEREAS the Bylaws of the Academic Senate of the California State University Channel Islands establishes that the Senate Budget Committee shall serve as the deliberative body of the faculty on budget and resource use for annual and long-range planning issues, and

WHEREAS the identified budget committees have overlapping charges and undocumented processes, leaving it unclear how faculty are consistently involved throughout the budget making process, and

WHEREAS the identified budget committees have members drawn from the faculty, yet the relationship between those faculty and the structures of shared governance are ill-defined or non-existent, impeding the communication flow of budget information between these budget committees and academic leadership, and

WHEREAS the University has identified strategic initiatives but does not have planning processes in place necessary to align budget with the strategic initiatives, and

WHEREAS given the absence of a University plan with short and long-term goals, the University will continue to be challenged on successfully implementing a sustainable, equitable, and transparent budget process,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Academic Senate and Senate Budget Committee will seek to, and expect to be, actively consulted during budget-planning and budget-making decisions; and further

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Chair or a co-Chair of the Senate Budget Committee be added to the membership of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate as ex-officio, non-voting member and that faculty representing Senate on other University budget and planning bodies be drawn from the Senate Budget Committee and not elected at-large positions; and further

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Academic Senate urges the University to engage in planning activities, with short term and long-term goals with weighted priorities that will drive budgetary decision making; and further

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Academic Senate urges the University to implement a University Budget Committee, one which honors shared governance and includes faculty in official budget-decision making bodies, and increase transparency and equity on where budget-decisions are made; and further

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Academic Senate urges the University to align all divisional planning processes, and within Academic Affairs to engage in centralized strategic planning in the colleges across the division; and further

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Academic Senate will seek to be, and expect to be, consulted on broader campus planning activities which have budgetary implications, including but not limited to operational, infrastructure, strategic, and master planning for the University.

Attachments
1. Report of the Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Committee on Governance, Collegiality, and Responsibility in the California State University. Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the California State University, September 1985.
2. Tenets of System Level Shared Governance in the California State University. Attachment to the CSU State-wide Academic Senate Resolution AS-3334-18/FLOOR. November 2018.