Parham to campus: resolution “fails to pass the test of accuracy, motive, and fairness.”
By Jesus Cortez, Staff Reporter
The CSUDH Academic Senate passed a resolution of no confidence in President Thomas A. Parham on Mar. 19, citing concerns about his leadership during a critical time for the university. The resolution passed by a vote of 29-6, with 10 abstentions.
The resolution cited Parham for declining enrollment and a lack of transparency in budget and staffing decisions. It also claimed he undermined shared governance by downplaying the Senate’s function and responding to criticism with personal attacks.
“[The] University President has demonstrated a pattern of circumventing shared governance principles, notably by unilaterally hiring an external consulting firm during the winter break without consultation with established shared governance bodies including the Academic Senate and University Budget Committee,” the resolution read.
The resolution was introduced by a faculty member outside the Senate and followed the standard review process before going to a vote. While the no-confidence vote is largely symbolic, it could prompt further review by the CSU Chancellor’s Office—it does not necessarily mean Parham will be removed from office now or in the future.
The Bulletin contacted several Senate leaders for further comment, including chair Sheela Pawar, but no official response was received by press time. The Bulletin also reached out to Associated Students, Inc., which voted to abstain, but an ASI spokesperson did not offer additional insight into the vote.
“Our primary focus continues to be advocating for student needs and ensuring their voices are heard in all campus discussions,” said marketing coordinator Raven Jade Emmert in a Mar. 24 email.
Parham was appointed the 11th president of CSUDH in March 2018. He was previously the vice chancellor of student affairs at UC Irvine. In recent years, his administration has grappled with major challenges—most notably declining enrollment and budget cuts across the California State University system.
While resident enrollment surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, campus officials say the increase was only temporary.
The budget crisis affecting CSU, however, remains a persistent concern. Faculty leaders said the crisis has been exacerbated by what they described as Parham’s top-down approach to decision-making. The administration laid off at least 30 university employees this past January, the Senate resolution noted, but engaged in “questionable expenditures at golf courses and beach resorts.”
The layoffs sparked a campus protest on Feb. 18, led by CSUDH union members and Teamsters.
The Senate also criticized the CSU Chancellor’s Office, led by former CSUDH president Mildred García, for “systemic mismanagement” that it said “favored larger campuses at the expense of smaller, resource-strapped campuses.”
The Senate urged CSU and campus leadership to take corrective action, citing wasteful spending, low morale, and a failure to plan for long-standing, foreseeable challenges.
Parham responded to the resolution in a campus-wide email sent on Mar. 26. In his email, written as an “Open Letter” to the campus community, the president said neither he nor his executive team were invited to address the allegations before the vote. While he accepted the vote as a form of feedback, he described the draft resolution as “flawed and full of misstatements.”
“In my embrace of transparency and shared governance, I make it a point … to meet with the full senate and report once per month,” Parham wrote. “Nobody stood up and said that the process is questionable.”
Parham challenged the idea that shared governance equates to shared decision-making in all areas, noting that some decisions—such as hiring consultants or managing layoffs—fall outside the scope of faculty consultation. He also argued that enrollment is a collective responsibility and criticized the resolution for placing sole blame on his administration.
“You should have no confidence in any assertion or statement that I am anything less than 110 [percent] committed to the intellectual and personal growth [and] development of our students and the instructional and co-curricular staff who educate them,” Parham said.
Parham denied blaming faculty for enrollment challenges during budget town halls and other campus-wide meetings. He said his past remarks about student performance were intended to encourage reflection on teaching practices, not to criticize faculty, whom he praised for their dedication and commitment.
The president concluded his letter with a call for unity in the face of the current challenges at CSUDH. He described the campus community as “a single garment of destiny,” saying everyone at the university was “caught in that inescapable network of mutuality.”
“I do have confidence that we are a community that is TORO STRONG,” Parham wrote. “Together we can and will continue to grow into a fuller expression of the institution we were meant to be.”