This past week, a student-sponsored display on campus generated significant concern and distress among some members of our campus and broader community due to the views and perspectives it expressed related to Israel, the Palestinian territories, and the ongoing conflict.

As a public university, we are bound to respect the First Amendment rights of campus community members, even when the expression is considered highly offensive to many in our campus community, and even when the expression does not reflect our own values. Displays and other expressive activities on campus are protected speech, provided the speech does not fall within the narrow scope of a traditionally recognized exception to the First Amendment and complies with our Time, Place and Manner Policy. In such circumstances, we recognize the pain, anger, and distress caused by the offending speech and will support our affected campus community members, but we cannot lawfully censor or punish the speech.

Our commitment to free speech, however, does not mean the University allows the targeted unlawful harassment of students, faculty, or staff. The University does not tolerate discrimination or harassment directed at any individual based on race, religion, national origin, or other protected categories. We are committed to free expression, free speech, and free assembly as essential components of our educational mission, while being equally committed to maintaining a safe and supportive campus environment for all campus community members.

If you are a student or employee and believe you have experienced discriminatory or harassing conduct on our campus based on protected class (personal characteristics including but not limited to gender, ethnicity, religious identity, national origin, disability, and sexual orientation), please report your concerns to the university’s Office of Equity and Compliance. If you perceive an imminent threat to safety, you should contact University Police.

Extensive resources about constitutionally protected expression are available on our Free Speech and “Speak Boldly, Listen Bravely” websites. CSULB President Jane Close Conoley has also frequently emailed the campus community about these issues, including on October 9, 2023, October 10, 2023, November 24, 2023, April 15, 2023, and April 30, 2024. Additional related messages from President Conoley are available online.

CSU Chancellor Mildred García shared the following message with all students and employees of the system. In addition, President Jane Close Conoley offered related messages on February 14, 2025 and November 8, 2024.

As you know, the recent administration change in Washington D.C. has brought with it an unprecedented number of executive orders and other actions – some announced and currently being implemented, others signaled. These policies and positions may have members of the CSU community feeling gravely concerned, disheartened or even threatened. Others may welcome them. Still others may feel entirely disillusioned, unseen, unheard and disconnected by our nation’s divided and acrimonious political landscape.

The CSU welcomes and celebrates freedom of expression and diversity of thought among all of our community members. Regardless of your viewpoint regarding these recent events, you continue to be a valued and respected member of the CSU family – and your work is appreciated and essential to our mission.

In the wake of these unparalleled policy shifts, the CSU finds itself in a moment of uncertainty and change never before seen in our 64-year history. This is understandably unsettling and unnerving for all of us.

I write to assure you that, in this moment, the CSU will do what all great institutions – and great people – do in times of uncertainty and change. We will turn to and uphold our core values. We will honor our purpose. We will fulfill our mission.

As the CSU’s chancellor, this is my responsibility – my obligation – to you, to our mission and, most importantly, to our current and future students. I will meet that obligation. Indeed, we will meet that obligation together.

We will continue to remove barriers to opportunity and success and bring the life-changing benefits of a Cal State degree to students from all backgrounds and walks of life. We will do everything we can, and we will work tirelessly and strategically to ensure the safety and well-being of all our students and employees. And we will fight to secure and protect the resources we need to fulfill our mission for our students, communities and our great state.

Please know that as this national situation continues to unfold, we are working diligently to assess the impacts to the CSU, our students and our employees, and we will be prepared to address these impacts and respond appropriately.

To this end, I have personally held more than a dozen meetings with the governor’s administration and state and federal legislative leaders, often accompanied by the chair of the CSU Board of Trustees. I continue to meet almost daily with leaders from university systems and individual institutions across the country, as well as national associations and advocacy groups, to share information, strategies and data. Members of the Chancellor’s Office leadership team are marshalling resources, assessing impacts and conducting trainings with colleagues across the system in the areas of academic affairs, student affairs, human resources, business and finance, advancement, communications and legal services. Our state and federal relations teams are advocating tirelessly for the CSU and the interests of our students and employees.

More specifically, the CSU’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) has updated and distributed guidance and resources to each of our universities to ensure that our international students, scholars and employees, as well as our undocumented students and employees, have the necessary support and information to help them meet their academic and professional goals – and to ensure that those who are a part of our campus communities are prepared to protect their rights in the event of federal immigration enforcement action.

OGC is also working closely with the California Attorney General both in support of the CSU’s undocumented students and employees and in efforts to safeguard federal financial support in all its forms. And to this end, system leaders are also actively monitoring potential actions that would impact the CSU’s research enterprise and will offer regular guidance and support to help faculty and student researchers navigate this evolving landscape.

The landscape is indeed evolving – and it is vast. But please be assured that if federal action is taken that negatively impacts the CSU community, we will be prepared, and we will respond quickly and appropriately.

The CSU will never abandon its mission. Our students deserve it. Our core values demand it.

We will meet this moment – together.

A number of social media posts over the past couple of days have suggested that federal officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are on campus. We cannot confirm this to be true. Members of the campus community are urged to remember that some social media posts are designed to deliberately misinform and misguide. Campus community members should take care to avoid spreading disinformation, even accidentally. A new website is available with information about the university's approach to Enforcement Actions on Campus. 

President Jane Close Conoley shared information today about budget planning for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Cal State Long Beach, Regena Cole, her family, and Mrs. Cole’s court-appointed representative announced today the settlement of the claims filed in Mrs. Cole’s name against CSULB in 2022. Pursuant to the settlement, Mrs. Cole’s substantial estate will be used upon her passing, as she intended, to support the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB, and all claims filed in Mrs. Cole’s name will be dismissed with prejudice.
 
For more than 30 years, Regena Cole and her late husband, Bob Cole, have been two of the most stalwart and generous supporters of Cal State Long Beach and, in particular, its music program. In 1994, the Coles bequeathed the bulk of their estate to the Cole Memorial Scholarship Fund at CSULB. In 2008, the music school at CSULB was named the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in honor of the Coles’ bequest. In 2020, Mrs. Cole entered into a gift agreement with CSULB, whereby $25 million of her estate that otherwise would go to the already well-funded Cole Scholars scholarship program would instead be used for capital improvements at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music.
 
In November 2022, a civil action was brought in Mrs. Cole’s name challenging the 2020 gift agreement. In January 2024, the trial court appointed an independent Guardian ad litem “to review this litigation and determine its conduct based upon the best interests of Regena Cole.” During subsequent mediation, the court-appointed Guardian ad litem and CSULB agreed to a settlement that provides for the claims filed in Mrs. Cole’s name to be dismissed, with prejudice, and that Mrs. Cole’s estate should be used as she intended to benefit the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music and its students.
 
Under the parties’ agreement, while Mr. Cole’s portion of the couple’s estate will continue to fund the Cole Scholars, Mrs. Cole’s estate will be used to fill gaps in the Cole Scholars’ educational costs (including room and board, fees, books, and musical instruments), to make capital improvements to Conservatory facilities, and to create a “Student Enrichment Fund” that provides tutoring, library materials, computers, travel expenses, recording equipment, and similar assistance for Conservatory students.
 
This agreement honors the Coles’ decades-long legacy of support to the Conservatory and the Cole Scholars. It is estimated that the Coles’ cumulative philanthropy to Cal State Long Beach may ultimately reach nearly $60 million, ensuring that the Bob Cole Conservatory remains a top destination of choice for music students.

Dear Beach Community:

As the conflict in the Middle East continues, our collective frustration, sadness, and pain deepen with each passing day. No matter your ethnicity, religion, or national origin, this war is a tragedy in our collective history.

For some here in the U.S. over these past many months, this anger and grief has turned into calls for American institutions to disengage with corporations involved in military technology, equipment, and armaments.

Some discourse around proposed financial divestment has been fraught with misinformation. Our investments of donor dollars are not political instruments in complex social and political issues over which there is significant disagreement and deep historical undercurrents. That said, this past spring, we developed this informational statement about our holdings, which we reaffirm today:

The university’s investments are held and managed by the CSU system, which does not purchase individual corporate stocks or equities as part of investment programs. Instead, its assets take the form of mutual funds, bonds, and other financial instruments. Additional invested assets are held by legally independent auxiliaries, which are institutionally affiliated support organizations. Among these organizations is the 49er Foundation, which manages the university’s endowment. Like CSU investments, these assets consist of blended funds and not individually held corporate stocks. Many efforts have been made to ensure an environmentally and socially responsible approach to investing that is consistent with university values. All investments are for the express purpose of supporting Beach students.

Other divestment demands have focused on colleges and universities ending certain travel abroad, internships, and prospective-employee outreach programs by employers. Curtailing these efforts would be antithetical to our role as an institution of higher education and our commitment to student success.

This institution has confronted and interrogated many troubling global issues in the past, but it does not play a direct role in contested geopolitical divides.

Instead, the university remains an active forum for discourse and perspective-sharing, not a participant itself.

The most constructive focus for our university community is recommitting to fostering a compassionate campus environment where all members feel respected, valued, and empowered.

Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D.
President