Scores of longstanding programs funded by student fees like the student newspaper, student broadcast news program, moot court, the debate team, and some art and music programs are expected to be gutted in the next academic year at Cal State Fullerton.
Last month, The Daily Titan – the university’s independent student newspaper – reported that programs like their publication funded through the Instructionally Related Activities fund will receive between 40% to 60% less funding than requested by program leaders next academic year.
That means scores of programs will be grappling with debilitating shortfalls when the fall semester starts in late August.
Jon Bruschke, a human communication studies professor and academic senator, said the cuts will impact nationally recognized programs, like the university’s debate team – a team he coached until 2010.
“All the things Fullerton is most excellent in are just going to disappear,” Bruschke said in a Monday phone interview. “Most programs will find a way to at least get through next year in some form. After that, who knows?”
The expected cuts come as a committee overseeing the fund informed administrators earlier this year they received almost $8 million in funding requests for curriculum-related programs next school year, but only have about $2.5 million in funds for those programs to give out.
Bruschke said part of the problem is the committee has historically recommended funding for a host of new student programs, approved funding increases, ran through surpluses and never set long-term priorities of what programs should be funded.
He adds that rather than have a difficult conversation on what should be funded this year and focus on the amount of funding they have, committee members instead focused on the amount of money being requested.
“It’s the same discussion every single year that never gets to the question of long term funding,” he said in a Monday phone interview. “This year everything just ran out,” Bruschke said.
In a Wednesday email, administrators said the number of funding requests for programs are increasing every year and the committee is awarding funding for 113 programs next school year – 22 of which are new programs.
“This trend has resulted in more programs receiving a share of the available funds each year, but in smaller proportions,” reads a statement simply attributed to the university. “The committee directed the available IRA monies to as many effective activities as possible while staying within the budget.”
Administrators add that during the pandemic, the fund’s reserves grew larger than normal due to COVID-related closures and last year the committee dipped into the reserves to help support programs.
The reserves are now depleted, according to a memo sent to administrators earlier this year.
Faculty & Students Sound Off
For over a week, Voice of OC received at least 100 forwarded emails from students and faculty calling on administrators to restore funding levels for the programs in the upcoming academic year and put a referendum before students to guarantee funding for legacy programs in the future.
Leo Van Bindsbergen, a Bachelor Fine Arts Acting student, said the cuts will limit education and opportunities for acting students to get their foot in the door of their field through capstone projects like they’ve done in the past.
“It takes away opportunities to tell meaningful stories and challenge ourselves artistically and present a work at a level that reflects the strength of our program,” he said in a Tuesday phone interview. “It completely diminishes the quality of our degree.”
In a February memo to administrators, committee members overseeing the Instructionally Related Activities fund recommended not funding the Bachelor Fine Arts Acting capstone at all when the new academic year starts in late August.
They also recommended funding Musical Theatre roughly $70,000 less than program advisors requested and funding Theatre Dance/Arts roughly $83,000 less than requested.
Erika Thomas, a Human Communications professor and co-director of the Speech and Debate Team, said less money means less opportunities for the group to travel and compete in tournaments – jeopardizing the team’s reputation as a national contender.
“It’s a giant spillover where we’re afraid national rankings are going to be impacted and student success is going to go down because those students have fewer chances at achievement. It’s a harder hill to climb when you’re not practicing at tournaments,” Thomas said in a Tuesday phone interview.
She said the program will be less visible if students can’t compete nationally.
“The less we’re present on a national scale, students that are coming out of competitive Speech and Debate programs at the high school or even community college level, – they’re not going to seek Cal State Fullerton as much,” Thomas said.
Committee members recommended funding Intercollegiate Forensic or the Speech and Debate team $48,000 less than requested by program leaders, according to the February memo.
Katelyn Cruz, a vocal performance masters student who is in the opera program, said the cuts will be detrimental to their spring showcase and impact their ability to compete at national competitions.
“With this cut, it’ll force us to use the resources we have. We’re not able to buy more things for our shows, which kind of limits us to what we can do, the people we can hire to make the show go to the next level,” Cruz said in a Tuesday phone interview, adding they got second place in a national competition last year.
She said conferences are critical for students like her.
“Going to those conferences has really helped me figure out what I want to do and helped me realize that it is very possible to have a career in what I’m majoring in,” Cruz said.
Opera Theatre is expected to receive over $43,000 less than they requested, according to the memo.
Cruz also works as a graduate opera assistant helping the program’s director – a position she said will disappear with the cuts.
Instructionally Related Activities Programs Get Slashed
Cal State Fullerton’s Instructionally Related Activities fund pays for programs and activities like athletics, publications, film and broadcast, theater productions, music and dance performances, art exhibits and public speaking and debate as laid out by state law.
The pot of money comes from a roughly $50 fee charged per student every semester and every program leader has to apply for funding.
The fund is overseen by a committee made up of a representative from the student body, eight other students and eight faculty members – each representing one of the university’s colleges – who recommend how much funding each program should get.
In February that committee sent administrators their recommendations for program funding for the 2026-27 school year, outlining how they planned to spend roughly $2.5 million of the fees on curriculum related programs and $1.4 million on athletic programs.
n the February memo, committee members said there were requests for nearly $8 million in funding for about 140 different programs and they made their funding recommendations based on a 4-tier rubric, with programs in the fourth tier not recommended to be funded.
“Because total funding requests for quartiles 1-3 exceeded the available budget, the committee applied a tiered reduction model: Quartile 1 at 60%, Quartile 2 at 50% and Quartile 3 at 40% of each program’s funding limit,” reads the memo.
Mahak Ahmad, a graduate student and chair of the committee, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
‘Hunger Games’ For Student Program Funding
Last month, hundreds of students sounded off on the cuts at the university’s academic senate meeting, demanding administrators reevaluate funding recommendations.
At the meeting, Thomas presented a resolution drafted by concerned senators seeking to reject the funding recommendations and call for a referendum, but university leaders instead passed an amended resolution to create a task force to review other funding options.
“The version that was approved by the Senate was this version to just create a task force, which honestly to me, was very disappointing,” said Thomas, a senate member.
She adds students in the programs are not being heard and actual solutions to the problem are being ignored.
“What we think would most immediately solve the problem is not really being done,” Thomas said. “I’m disappointed that administrators do not seem to have a better handle on how to solve this.”
At the meeting, CSUF President Ronald Rochon said he would not reject the committee’s funding recommendations, according to a Daily Titan article.
Students also expressed frustration to Voice of OC over Rochon’s response to the cuts.
Rochon did not respond to emailed questions.
University officials said the task force will look to recommend sustainable solutions to the
issue and students can pursue a referendum if they want.
They added they recognize the concerns about the funds and the future of the programs.
“Cal State Fullerton is committed to providing high-impact, hands-on learning experiences through Instructionally Related Activities, which are a vital part of the university’s educational mission,” reads the Wednesday email.
“These programs, supported by a student-approved fee, extend learning beyond the classroom and include opportunities in student media, academic competitions, the arts and athletics.”
Bruschke said Rochon should reject the recommendations, revert to last year’s recommendations and reject funding requests for new programs while the task force figures out long-term funding solutions.
“The President’s message was ‘I’m not going to do anything. I’m not going to stop the cuts next year. I have to pick between you and the committee and I’m picking the committee,’” Bruschke said. “I think the students left frustrated and angry.”
Bruschke, a member of the academic senate, said he had a heart attack that same day after the April meeting ended, but joined a budget meeting via Zoom from the hospital the very next day.
“That’s how important this issue is to me,” he said. “I can’t be quiet.”
Jayden Lovelady, Daily Titan editor-in-chief, said students are disappointed on how administrators are handling the cuts.
“There is a very strong sentiment from students that we’re not being heard or recognized in the proper way,” she said in a Monday phone interview. “One of the speakers said that they feel that we’re being placed in a financial Hunger Games with other student organizations, and I do definitely agree.”
According to the February memo, the committee overseeing the fund recommended the student newspaper receive $59,000 instead of their requested $120,000.
Lovelady said the Daily Titan is going to receive more money than that, but the newspaper will still be $40,000 short of what they need.
That looming shortfall could mean the newspaper dials back print production, decreasing student compensation and no longer going to collegiate journalism conferences.
“The way that they’re going about it was really disheartening because we didn’t find out until a few weeks before the semester is over, when we could have been preparing if they knew we didn’t have the finances,” Lovelady said.
Referendum: A Possible Solution
Some students and faculty say there should be a referendum brought to students to vote on guaranteed funding for legacy programs such as speech and debate team, moot court, the Daily Titan and OC News – a broadcast student news program.
Bruschke and others point to a referendum passed in 2010 guaranteeing 36% of the student program fund go towards athletic programs, arguing that there should be a similar guarantee for non-athletic related programs.
Athletics programs are expected to receive about $1.4 million when the new academic year starts this fall from the student program fund because of the 2010 referendum.
“If the President would stop the bleeding and champion that referendum and say, ‘I’m going to do for academics, what my predecessor in 2010 did for athletics,’ we have a real chance of a long term solution,” Bruschke said.
“I think that would be the most popular president we’ve ever had.”
Noah Biesiada contributed to the reporting in this article.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.