The California Faculty Association, students and other unions have held rally at Sonoma State University ahead of last week’s on-campus legislative forum with several lawmakers that discussed planned cuts to the school and the California State University system.
Sonoma State administrators announced in late January that the school was facing a $23.9 million deficit in the 2025-26 fiscal year. To address the shortfall, the school announced it would implement layoffs, eliminate academic departments and majors, and stop funding all of its athletic programs.
Gov. Gavin Newsom also proposed reducing the overall CSU system’s budget by about $375 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
“Instead of making sure students, faculty and staff have what they need to thrive, we know the CSU will make budget cuts, forcing faculty, students, and staff to do more with less,” CFA president Charles Toombs said in a statement released after the governor’s proposal in January.
Sonoma State administrators said layoffs would include 46 faculty positions, four management positions, 12 staff and lecturers. The CFA said that number included 55 lecturers.
Sonoma State interim president Emily Cutrer said in a press release announcing the cuts on Jan. 22 that a projected deficit of $21 million last October had grown worse and cited a 38% decline in enrollment over the last decade as one of several factors impacting the university’s financial outlook.
“Instead of making sure students, faculty and staff have what they need to thrive, we know the CSU will make budget cuts, forcing faculty, students, and staff to do more with less.”
Charles Toombs, CFA president
“The university has had a budget deficit for several years. It is attributable to a variety of factors — cost of personnel, annual price increases for supplies and utilities, inflation — but the main reason is enrollment. Student tuition and fees, combined with enrollment-based funding from the California State University, are major revenue components in the university budget,” Cutrer said.
The cuts have drawn pushback from unions representing faculty and other employees. Athletic coaches formed a group called Save Seawolves Athletics and filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education.
“We believe that the decision to eliminate athletics must be reversed, and that alternatives should be explored within the broader university budget that do not negatively impact marginalized students to such an extent,” a spokesperson for Save Seawolves Athletics said in a press release announcing the complaint.
The complaint alleges that students were denied due process and faulted the university for what is said was a lack of transparency and engagement with stakeholders such as coaches and athletes.
The rally organized by the CFA took place 1 p.m. Friday in Seawolf Plaza. Unions including Teamsters Local 2010, CSU Employees Union, and United Auto Workers Local 4123 participated, along with the student organization Students for Quality Education.
The CFA gathered 13,000 signatures for a petition calling for a reversal of the cuts.
In just 2 weeks, our petition to Save Sonoma State garnered more than 13,000 signatures in support of reversing the proposed cuts to faculty jobs, academic programs, and athletics. #SaveSonomaState #SaveOurCSU #SOS https://t.co/HkJSebK1Pu pic.twitter.com/DtEC2zgxzu
— California Faculty Association (@CFA_United) February 20, 2025
The university plans to eliminate 23 academic majors and masters’ programs, including bachelor’s degrees in earth and environmental sciences, geology and physics, along with masters in English, Spanish and history, among others.
Departments slated to close include art history, economics, geology, and others.
The legislative forum in ballroom A of the school’s student center were co-chaired by state Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Davis, and Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael.
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, and several other lawmakers attended the forum, along with representatives from the CSU Chancellor’s Office, Sonoma State, and student organizations.
Rogers said in an email that the forum was the “first meaningful opportunity for the community to have their voice heard.”
He said lawmakers will also seek answers from the administration on what the “comeback plan” would be and how the community could be involved in those discussions.
“The cuts will have far reaching impacts to the students, faculty, employees and surrounding businesses in the community,” he said.
He said lawmakers will push back on the governor’s proposed cuts and seek to stabilize the entire CSU system.
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