Welcome to the Course Web Site for

Gary S. Katz, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology

California State University, Northridge

Fall Semester 2009

Welcome Back! I hope you had a restful & enjoyable summer vacation!

A Statement about Furloughs, CSU, CSUN, and your classes this semester:

You are no doubt aware of the California's budget deficit and economic crisis. The CSU (California State University System) is facing a $585 million dollar reduction in funding. The cut to CSUN is in the tens of millions. By cutting back on salaries for faculty, administrators, managers, staff workers, maintenance workers, nurses, instructors, librarians, etc., our campus can make up a part of this shortfall. This is on top of your tuition increases and cuts to classes. All of these are ways this campus is trying to deal with the reality of the budget cuts to CSUN.

Most of the faculty and staff at CSUN voted for a furlough plan, which means the workers will see a ~10% reduction in pay over the school year and must take a corresponding reduction in their workload. This semester you will see the whole campus closed on designated days. The faculty will also personally select nine furlough days for the semester, days which we must designate in writing. We cannot do any work on a furlough day: no returning or taking of phone calls, no reading emails, no grading papers, no teaching, nothing.

You are paying more for your education now than ever before but note that these new rules for faculty mean that your instructors may have to cancel some class meetings, may not get papers back as quickly as in the past and in many cases cannot do what we normally do to help our students as in years past. As you know this crisis has also meant that many course sections cannot be offered, have limited seats available and/or classes have been canceled. Please know that this situation is outrageous and heart breaking for us. We want you to have the best academic preparation possible, but that goal is becoming more difficult to reach given the economic realities we all face. You will note that in light of the furlough requirement, I have had to cancel classes in all of my graduate course offerings this semester to comply with the furlough regulations.

As faculty members, we encourage you to step up and get involved in your higher education, your future, and the future of California. Contact your state legislators and tell them what you think. Contact our Governor. Attend the rallies and events that will occur on campus this semester. Join the Students for a Quality Education (SQE) group on campus. Take action! By taking action, we can make change! You can go to www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html to find out who your assembly and legislative representatives are. During the first week of classes, the California Faculty Association (CFA) will be hosting a “Vent at the Tent” event to document and publicize how the drastic cuts made to the CSU have impacted the student population at CSUN. If you are so inclined, stop by the tent to share your stories and receive some guidance from CFA members.