Since the pandemic hit Southern California last March, the need for mental health services among students has increased.
Story and photo by Robert Rios, Campus Editor
Student reaction to the proposed health fee increase has been rough, Associated Student Inc., Vice President of Academic Affairs Jonathan Mancio Molina reported in Wednesday’s Academic Senate meeting.
If approved, the fee would increase by $55, to $130. According to the Health Services Fee website, the proposed increase would expand Student Psychological Services’ capacity to meet the growing mental health needs of students. The last time the service fee was increased was in 2006.
Molina told the senate in the ASI report portion of the meeting, that student feedback via emails and Zoom has been mixed, with some expressing whether the money could instead be diverted from other areas, such as funds earmarked for the campus police department.
Molino said ASI will continue to solicit feedback from students via emails to HSFIIncrease@csudhl.edu.
“Those conversations are continuous and we are trying to inform students of this decision and give them all the information available,” Molino said.
Although separate from the health fee, the topic of defunding police at CSU’s has been an ongoing discussion. All 23 CSU campuses have seen some pushback from the amount of money police get which was made clear at last month’s Board of Trustees Meeting.
New CSU Chancellor Joseph I Castro has said recently he does not plan on defunding campus police as he wants to protect the empty campuses. Castro told the Daily Forty-Niner he does “not see any significant decreases in investment in that area.”
In other news the senate:
- Discussed Dymally Institute Executive Director Anthony Samad’s challenge to the Academic Senate as a unit to declare itself as ani-racist and to challenge another group on campus to do the same. The senate accepted and has also challenged the CSUDH administrative cabinet to do the same.
- Heard from Provost Michael E. Spagna during his report that the CSU Chancellor’s visit last week was productive as he was able to meet representatives from the university’s six colleges as well as departments.
- Heard from the California Faculty Association report which was given by Iyad Afalqa who discussed the CFA’s open letter to CSU Chancellor Castro to “implore” him to provide COVID-19 relief for the spring term and beyond.
- Finally, yesterday’s meeting was shortened so members of the
