Subject: [All Faculty] Updates on DEIB work, FY21 budget, enrollment, and spring planning
From: Presidents Office <[email-masked]>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2020 14:42:06 -0700
List-Id: <nested_in_allfaculty.cca.edu>

Dear Colleagues,

As we enter week six of this strange and challenging fall semester, I’m
writing to share several updates about work on diversity, equity,
inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) initiatives; the fiscal year 2021 budget;
fall enrollment; and current planning for the spring semester.

I want to start, though, by acknowledging the extraordinary difficulties
confronting us as individuals, as a community, and as a society. I know
many members of our community are deeply and personally affected by health
or financial concerns stemming from the pandemic. Some have experienced
losses due to the fires burning in our state. And many face the appalling
injustices of racism and xenophobia that diminish us all.

I thank each of you for stepping forward, despite these circumstances, to
provide our students with a rigorous, meaningful, and welcoming academic
experience. CCA’s successful launch of a fully online fall term is an
achievement to celebrate, and a testament to the dedication, creativity,
and patience of everyone involved.

As we continue to navigate this tumultuous year, our overarching goals
remain the same: To protect the health, safety, and well-being of our
community; to provide and support high-quality academic programs for
students; and to responsibly steward the college’s financial resources,
preserving CCA’s ability to energetically fulfill its mission now and in
the future. Overlaying all is our vital work to address structural
inequities and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through
ongoing, substantive change in our curriculum, in the classroom, and
throughout our college.

CCA’s pedagogy is rooted in creative practice designed to reinvent,
reimagine, and implement change. We must use these skills to recognize and
repair the systemic racism and structural inequities that devalue and
disempower many members of our CCA community. Over the summer and early
fall, I have been working with the Board of Trustees, Provost Tammy Rae
Carland, and the entire senior cabinet as well as student, staff, and
faculty groups to develop a framework and implement tactics to
operationalize anti-racist practices throughout the college. Divisions,
programs, and departments across CCA are also creating DEIB plans in their
areas. I encourage you to visit the CCA website
<https://www.cca.edu/about/action-accountability/> to stay up to date on
progress. This work is humbling, difficult, and incredibly inspiring, and
I’m grateful to all who are participating in these efforts.

Regarding the annual operating budget, last week the CCA Board of Trustees
approved a revised budget for our current fiscal year (FY21), adjusted to
absorb losses from reduced enrollments and housing occupancy. Those
reductions include:

   -

   A decrease of approximately 220 students from fall 2020 (current
   enrollment is 1,639)
   -

      This 12% reduction is similar to enrollment declines at peer schools
      -

      The pivot to online instruction was the primary cause
      -

   Many students elected to postpone enrollment
   -

      New student deferrals: 75 first-year, 37 transfer, 102 graduate
      students
      -

      Current student leaves of absence: 175 undergraduate, 15 graduate
      -

   The number of students in CCA housing is greatly reduced
   -

      95 students in Founders Hall and none in Panoramic or Blattner Hall

Although we have significantly reduced overall expenses, the combined
impact of these losses is an operating deficit of $5.6 million for FY21.
While CCA will continue its fiscal discipline, we will likely need to draw
on reserves. We are fortunate that prudent fiscal management over many
years has built reserves that enable us to do so responsibly. This is not a
sustainable multi-year budgeting tactic, however. The Board of Trustees is
currently raising additional donations to address this deficit, and the
leadership team, in collaboration with the board, is developing strategies
to sustain our financial security and rebuild reserves as the pandemic
subsides and enrollment recovers.

We look forward, of course, to welcoming all of our students, faculty, and
staff back to campus as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime,
Provost Carland and the Academic Affairs team, along with faculty and staff
throughout CCA, have been developing a number of scenarios for the coming
spring and summer, working closely with the San Francisco Department of
Public Health and teams from higher education institutions throughout the
Bay Area. Early next week, Provost Carland will provide more information
about our spring semester to enable students, faculty, and staff ample time
to plan and prepare.

Thank you again for your extraordinary efforts in these difficult times. It
is a privilege to work with all of you in service of CCA’s mission. We will
emerge from this trial—and, with our talented students and alumni,
reimagine and rebuild a better future.

Take care,

Steve