In a recent forum, President Haynes addressed the campus and local community and delivered information on the 2015-2016 academic year budget.

At the event, which took place on Oct. 1, Haynes discussed how the school has raised $26 million and will continue to raise money until the school’s goal of $50 million is reached. CSUSM is also the recipient of a $2.6 million Hispanic Serving Institute Grant and a $1.4 million TRIO Pathway Grant for academic support funding underrepresented students in higher education. The University Budget Council will use these resources as well as money funded by the California government to the CSU system in order to fulfill budget requests.

President Haynes received the Budget Council’s list of high priority programs, and this year there is enough money to fund them all. One program the school has been able to fund is the Diversity Planning Initiative.

“We will be creating a new diversity plan to incorporate the things not yet accomplished under the current plan,” said Arturo Ocampo, Assistant Vice President for the Office of Diversity, Educational Equity and Inclusion. “The current plan is three years old […] however, we have accomplished close to 75 percent of the goals in the old plan and are ready to go to the next steps.”

The Diversity Task Force will spend the rest of fall 2015 identifying which goals should be prioritized. For example, the Diversity Task Force plans to implement a diversity education requirement in undergraduate studies. Students, staff and members of the Halualani & Associates Diversity Mapping Project have advocated for this since last year.

In the past, the school has taken steps to foster a strong foundation for diversity by strengthening communication between staff and students. Moving forward, CSUSM will focus on designing strategies to determine which diversity objectives are most desired. The new approach will include metrics and objective benchmarks to assess accomplishment.

The Diversity Task Force intends to synthesize the new diversity and inclusion plan between Sept. and Dec.. A first draft will be ready by January 2016. During spring 2016, Task Force members will present the plan to the campus community by holding open forums and discussion groups, and providing online resources. After a period of revision in March, the final plan should be adopted by April 2016.

Ocampo said that incorporating this plan at CSUSM would be an asset to the University.

“I would hope that the plan provides a clearer path for us to follow in terms of what we as a university stand for in the area of diversity and inclusion, and what it is we expect our students to know, understand and be able to achieve in the areas of diversity, social justice and inclusion.”