SDSU Diversity, Equity and Outreach Committee
Minutes of the February 25, 2014 meeting
Present: Reggie Blaylock, Aaron Bruce, Nola Butler-Byrd (Chair), Beth Chung, Sandra Cook, Kevin
Delgado, Anne Donadey (scribe), Thom Harpole, Sally Mathiesen.
Guests: Isidore Niyongabo, Maria Nieto Senour, Pam Starr, Angela Van Ostran.
1. The minutes of the January 2014 meeting were approved without changes.
2. Announcements
a. Diversity Awards April 30, 4:30-6:30 in Montezuma Hall, Student Union—
Nominations Due March 7, 2014 (Aaron Bruce)
b. Inclusion survey: may have results in April (Beth Chung)
c. Provost search: last two candidates’ open forums March 4 at 3:30 and March 18 at
3:45—please attend!
d. Searches for Deans of Colleges of Education and Business Administration ongoing as
well
e. Intercultural Center sponsoring free ASL classes Tu-Fr 1:00 p.m.
3. Old Business
a. Strategic Plan Working Groups Updates
 The Underrepresented Faculty working group will also review SDSU’s Affirmative Action
Plan. Various faculty-related issues were discussed: Could there be a way to have an online
application process for job searches? College of Business has difficulty being competitive
salary-wise.
 Cumulative evaluation process for lecturers is becoming more onerous and time-consuming
for all.
 PBAC made a recommendation for $1 million to remedy accessibility challenges on campus,
including purchasing a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Accommodation requests will no
longer be charged to individual departments for events, campus guests, students, etc. Thanks
to all who helped make this happen!
 There will be an SDSU event for international educators May 27 as part of a conference
b. DEO Proposal to revise the membership of the Senate’s Tenure Track Planning
Committee to add the Chair of the DEO to the committee is coming to the next Senate
meeting for a vote
c. Senate Task Force on Student Evaluations—Next meeting March 3, 2014 at 1 p.m.
Nola is on the Task Force.
4. New Business:
a. Undergraduate student issues
 Sophomores are dropping out, including some in good academic standing: data analysis is
currently taking place through Enrollment Services and Student Affairs. They are also
looking at bottlenecks and what are major obstacles to students. They are working with
departments where there are issues of impaction and other issues. Graduation and retention
rates are higher now than they have ever been. When students don’t come back, it is for
primarily financial and personal reasons. We got 40,000 CSU-eligible applicants last year.

Many students cannot pay for textbooks. We brainstormed possible solutions. Faculty should
put textbooks on library reserve. Could this be mandated? Could low SES students benefit
from the same modest rental book rate as athletes on scholarships? Reggie will investigate. A
book fund for students could be an easy fundraising pitch as well. This is already done for
Veteran students.
b. Survey regarding Student Disability Services will be going out soon. Faculty with
mobility issues are not well served in terms of getting a driver for the cart due to
resource challenges. Reggie Blaylock will investigate.
c. Please complete ITS survey as well.