From the day Sacramento State President Luke Wood arrived on campus in July of last year, he was tasked with overcoming big obstacles that could jeopardize the success of the university.
That included ongoing negotiations and labor strikes for faculty and staff, as well as steering the campus auxiliary CapRadio off a financial cliff. Sac State holds the license to the NPR member station and took over operational and financial management after an audit in September revealed significant mismanagement.
Both issues will continue to be pressing this month. The California Faculty Association has announced its intention to hold a week-long strike starting Jan. 22, and Wood told CapRadio Insight host Vicki Gonzalez that a forensic audit looking at the causes of CapRadio’s financial crisis is expected later in the month.
“My focus right now, of course, is on the future, but we do have to look retrospectively and see what were the things that led to us being in such a disastrous standpoint,” Wood said of the CapRadio audit. “And unfortunately, I think that we're going to see some stuff come out of that.”
Wood spoke with Gonzalez about what it has been like to return to his alma mater as president, his outlook for labor negations and what’s next for CapRadio.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Interview Highlights
In the past five months and change that you've actually been in this position, did it meet your expectations? Is it what you envisioned it to be?
Very much so. I mean, obviously some of the unique challenges weren't expected. But at the same time whenever you assume a leadership role like this, you know that there is going to be things that aren't what you expect and that's part of it but I think one of the the best parts about coming back was spending a semester getting reacquainted with Sacramento State and seeing so many people who are part of my own journey. Faculty members, staff members who are still on campus who are still fighting the good fight for our students and even people who I went to school with who are now on staff or on faculty just doing great work. So it was a pretty enjoyable transition home.
Last month Sacramento State was one of four universities that took part in rolling strikes organized by the California Faculty Association. Given that you've been a professor and your wife is a professor as well, does their message about better pay and benefits resonate with you?
Well, I have come up from a union background. So one of my first jobs was working for the California Faculty Association, and then I worked for AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. I've worked for ACORN, worked for SEIU. So I have a union upbringing and for me, it's always been important that when people are doing work that they should be properly compensated for that work. I am always attentive to the fact that we need to make sure that that's happening.
The proximity for me in this, having that background and having my wife currently be a member of the faculty union and then meeting regularly in this role as president with all of our unions and our represented employees, it's a very close conversation to me. Yet at the same time, this is all done at the state level. So the system does all the negotiation and we are simply the recipients of those decisions that are made and they're wrestling with a lot of difficult decisions. How do we pay for increases? How do we make sure that people are properly honored for the work that they're doing and that balance? Trying to find the balance is a hard part because we have to be able to have the resources to do the good work that we're doing.
So when the strike took place … there's four campuses, Sacramento State was chosen. It was a one-day strike and we definitely saw a reduction in activity on campus. The entrances were partially closed at times during the day when that was occurring and we know that there is an upcoming one-week strike that's going to take place during the first week of school. For me the main thing is making sure that our campus is engaged in planning to be prepared for that to make sure that students are getting what they need and what they deserve and at the same time also respecting the right that represented employees have to strike.
How do you plan for the strike as a university president given that it's the first week of classes?
Well, it's a difficult thing to do. I mean, we have a coordination committee that is working tirelessly on this and there's so many different elements to it — even down to we have you know boilers on campus and what happens if we don't have people to run the boilers? So the level of detail intricacy that you have to get down to when it comes to something like this is pretty significant.
And I'll say that certainly a one-day strike is reasonable to manage. A one-week strike is very difficult to manage. And so we're thinking through every single option. We have meetings all throughout this week trying to figure out how we're going to navigate that and ensure that the students are supported and the students are served, which is why we're here, and at the same time acknowledging the fact that we're going to have a substantial reduction in those who are coming to work.
The last time you joined us was back in October; that followed layoffs in August at CapRadio as well as an audit detailing massive financial problems and debt that is ultimately the university's responsibility. Back then you said that 70 to 75% of your time is devoted to CapRadio issues. What percentage is that now?
It's more like 40% now, so there's been a reduction. But that being said, when it comes to one of the things that keep me up at night, it's always gonna be the number one thing.
It's part of the educational mission of the university. So yes, it is a totally separate entity. It is an auxiliary. It operates on its own and that's important for that journalistic firewall.
And at the same time it's putting information out to the public. It's informing the public. In that way it is part of the educational mission of the university. And so for me, it was important to make sure that CapRadio would be able to continue, that it would be healthy, that it would thrive. And at the same time, as I walked in the door [we were] being handed a report from our chancellor’s office saying that this is, you know, the worst audit in the system's history and that there's some significant existential issues here.
At that time we were looking at CapRadio running out of money sometime in January or early February. Now, I think that there's been some really good moves [that] have been able to make [it] so that stretches out to April. So I'm hoping that we continue to have our donors to CapRadio come back and have trust that what's happening now is different than what happened in the past.
CapRadio still does not have a full board of directors or a permanent general manager. Is there a timeline when those positions will be filled?
With the board of directors, that will be filled at the next meeting of CapRadio. The only reason that it has taken so long for that is because we had to make sure that we were doing due diligence with background checks, conflict of interest checks and a number of background factors that were really part of what some of the concerns were from the previous board. And that takes time to do that right and to not run into some of the same concerns that were there before.
We’re talking about CapRadio being several million dollars in the hole. The state has a projected deficit of like $68 billion and Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce revisions and cuts next week. So is there a concern of the impact of public education ultimately impacting faculty and students?
Well, I think the budget concern separate from CapRadio is absolutely a concern for us. Knowing that we could receive a reduction and being concerned about how we're going to do that again in combination with all those things we just discussed. We just had a tuition increase, we're having labor negotiations that are taking place right now. We already don't have a lot of resources to do the good work that we're doing. So that in and of itself is its own pool of considerations and problems and then of course adding on CapRadio to that, that's also a concern.
I think though that the markers of success in terms of listenership, in terms of the extension of the contract with NPR, I think that what will happen is that more donors will recognize the importance of coming and continuing to support CapRadio. So I feel confident that CapRadio will be vibrant in the future. You know, we went all in saying that we're committed to CapRadio and that we're gonna continue to support it and that doesn't mean that every part of that support is not gonna be difficult to do. And you know, it means that we're going to have to look at our institution as a whole and in some places we'll have to tighten our belt. And that's okay because again, this is part of the educational mission of the institution.
Now, I will say that you know, there is the forensic examination that's taking place and the forensic examination is looking at the past. My focus right now, of course, is on the future, but we do have to look retrospectively and see what were the things that led to us being in such a disastrous standpoint? And unfortunately, I think that we're going to see some stuff come out of that. It will be sometime in this month that we'll have at least the preliminary findings. And I'll say that we've also as a campus been working with the forensic examination firm, providing them with additional information, pulling information that we've been able to find. I could say that — we don't have any preliminary findings yet — but I can look at even the information that we're providing, there's concerns. And those concerns are again about the past and about what happened in the past, but …
Will that translate to accountability?
It's going to have to.
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez and edited by News Editor Chris Hagan. Following NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no CapRadio corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
