This bill would prohibit the president of a campus of the California State University from resigning or vacating their position without notifying in writing the trustees and the Chancellor of the California State University of their intention to resign or vacate. The bill would require the trustees, within 30 days of receiving the written notice, and before any recruitment for the position of campus president by any employee, to establish a 9-member Presidential Search Committee, as provided. The bill would require the Presidential Search Committee, with assistance from the office of the Chancellor of the California State University, to establish the desired qualities of the campus president and develop a job description, establish a scoring and ranking standard, conduct a recruitment effort and an initial screening of candidates, conduct interviews, and determine and recommend the final 3 candidates to the trustees and chancellor, as provided. The bill would require the chancellor, in collaboration with the Presidential Search Committee, to host a recorded public forum for the final 3 candidates. The bill would require the chancellor to share the recorded public forum in a closed session of the trustees and would require the trustees to make an offer of employment and appoint a campus president from the final 3 candidates. The bill would prohibit an offer of employment from being made to a final candidate until the candidate participates in a public forum.

89500.5.

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Board” means the Trustees of the California State University created under Section 66600 to administer the California State University.

(2) “Campus” means a campus of the California State University campus where the campus president has provided written notification to the board and the chancellor of their intention to resign or vacate the position of president.

(3) “Chancellor” means the Chancellor of the California State University.

(4) “Recruitment” means actions taken by the chancellor, the board, or an employee of the California State University to seek a member of the public to fill a campus president position.

(5) “Trustee” means a member of the board.

(b) A campus president shall not resign or vacate their position without notifying in writing the board and the chancellor of their intention to resign or vacate the position of campus president.

(c) Within 30 days of receipt of a written notification pursuant to paragraph (1), and before any recruitment for the campus president position, the board shall establish a Presidential Search Committee.

(d) The Presidential Search Committee shall comprise nine members, as follows:

(1) Six of the members shall be as follows:

(A) The president of the academic senate of the campus, or their designee.

(B) The president of the faculty collective bargaining unit, or their designee.

(C) The president of the classified collective bargaining unit, or their designee.

(D) The president of the Associated Students, Incorporated, of the campus, or their designee.

(E) One administrator from the campus appointed by the chancellor, or their designee.

(F) One alumnus from the campus appointed by the president of the campus alumni association, or their designee.

(2) After the six members pursuant to paragraph (1) are appointed, the six members shall appoint three members, as follows:

(A) A superintendent of a local educational agency located within the service area of the campus, or their designee.

(B) The chief executive officer, president, or superintendent of a community college district within the service area of the campus, or their designee.

(C) One representative of the public, who may be an elected official, from the service area of the campus, or their designee.

(3) A designee serving at the pleasure of the Presidential Search Committee shall be qualified and authorized to make decisions on behalf of the member they are representing.

(e) The Presidential Search Committee, with assistance from the office of the Chancellor of the California State University, shall do all of the following:

(1) Within 30 days of establishing the Presidential Search Committee pursuant to subdivision (c), establish the desired qualities for a campus president and develop a job description for the campus president based on the qualities to be used by the chancellor’s office for the recruitment of candidates for the campus president vacancy.

(2) Within 30 days of establishing the Presidential Search Committee pursuant to subdivision (c), establish a scoring and ranking standard to screen candidates for the campus president vacancy.

(3) Conduct a statewide and, if necessary, nationwide, recruitment effort to recruit qualified candidates for the campus president vacancy.

(4) Within 30 days of the recruitment effort described in paragraph (3), conduct an initial screening of candidates based on the scoring and ranking standards established pursuant to paragraph (2) to select the top five candidates.

(5) Within 30 days of selecting the top five candidates pursuant to paragraph (4), conduct interviews with the top five candidates. Interviews may be conducted virtually or in person. The interview questions shall be developed before the interviews by the Presidential Search Committee in consultation with the campus community.

(6) Determine the final three candidates and recommend them to the board and the chancellor.

(f) Within 30 days of receiving a list of the final three candidates from the Presidential Search Committee, the chancellor, in collaboration with Presidential Search Committee, shall host a public forum at the campus. The public forum shall be advertised to the campus community for one week before its scheduled date and shall be open to the public. The public forum shall be recorded and include in its format all of the following:

(1) A presentation by each of the three final candidates on their qualifications and their vision for the campus.

(2) An opportunity for the three final candidates to answer questions from the Presidential Search Committee and the chancellor.

(3) An opportunity for the campus community and the public to ask questions of the three final candidates.

(g) Within 30 days of completing the public forum described in subdivision (f), the chancellor shall share, in a closed session of the board, the recording of the public forum.

(h) Within 30 days of the closed session held pursuant to subdivision (g), the board shall make an offer of employment and appoint a campus president from the three final candidates.

(i) An offer of employment shall not be made to a final candidate for the position of campus president until the candidate has participated in a public forum on campus.