Despite massive cuts and closed enrollments at the California State University system, the percentage of minority students is not expected to drop, Chancellor Charles B. Reed said Tuesday in a press briefing.
“We are going to try not to do that,” Dr. Reed said to Diverse. He notes that some 54 percent of the system’s 450,000 students are “people of color” and that no changes in that level are expected. “We are holding workshops and are holding meetings to make sure of this,” he said.
Even so, the nation’s largest university system is undergoing unprecedented stress as it tries to cope with California’s budget crisis. A $564 million budget reduction is forcing to school to raise fees, furlough staff and close enrollments.
Fifteen of the system’s 23 campuses will stop accepting applications for the fall 2010 term on Nov. 30, he said. The remaining campuses will close four to six weeks later. Some 4,000 fewer students are enrolled this fall and about 10,000 more students won’t be in class next spring, Reed said.
CSU will need to reduce an additional 40,000 students over the next two years.
“Denying student access is just about the worst thing I can do,” Reed said.
