Local

By Naomi K. Bonman

The week of July 5 was a very emotional and overwhelming time for not just our Black community, but for the Nation as an entirety. With the shootings of two unarmed Black men and then the event in Dallas, Texas, as a Black community we have become fed up.  We are tired. Tired of the same cycle that keeps happening and has been happening for decades with no hope of ever changing.

From protest after protest, stand-in after stand-in, and boycott after boycott, nothing is changing. It is like we are working hard to seek justice and for equality rights, but constantly being ignored by the system. We feel alienated from society, as well as used and abused. Our culture in America has constantly been mocked, mocked for centuries.

Since the 1960s Civil Rights Movement very little change has happened. Racism in America has taken a reverse turn. So what is the solution? What have we as a community been doing wrong and what do we need to do to start seeing REAL change? Three Black millennial entrepreneurs have spoken up on the issues that have seen in the years and what they feel needs to be done in order for change to prosper.

“When you do not know who you are anyone can come along and give you an identity! It’s time for us to know who we are, be proud of who we are, stop shaming,” Author T’ana Phelice states. “It’s time for Black men and women to begin to celebrate one another again. It’s time to raise our children as a village and take pride in having a disciplined community. It’s time to mend fences and break chains that are meant to separate us. It’s time to unite! It’s time to make God popular again!“

Author and playwright, T’ana Phelice (31), from San Bernardino feels that in order for us to do better and make permanent changes that our community needs to be honest. We need to start being ashamed. We need to start being persistent. We need to educate ourselves on historical information; things that affect us and our children.

Marketing guru, Jay Parnell (33), of Perris speaks on the desensitization of our children. He believes that the current generation has been desensitized by how they are being marketed to through music, television, and social media. These media outlets have the power to develop and alter a person’s ideology.

Starh, owner of Fancy Cartel, from San Bernardino sums everything up with in order for change to come, the issues at hand need to be addressed. Once the current issues within our community are addressed we can then come to an agreement to start seeing the change that we all have longed for.

To listen to the full commentary, click below:

By Ronda Racha Penrice, Urban News Service

When Jeff Friday traveled to his first Sundance Film Festival to catch Love Jones in 1997, what struck him most is what he didn’t see.

“I returned from Sundance very inspired by what I saw there, but what I did not see was filmmakers of color,” says Friday. “So I came back to New York inspired to create something like it that really served as a platform for black filmmakers.” That’s when Friday first envisioned the American Black Film Festival.

Back then, the Newark native and Howard University alumnus — who holds an MBA from New York University — worked as a high-ranking advertising executive at the black-owned UniWorld Group. There, he oversaw marketing campaigns targeting African-American moviegoers. Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism, a UniWorld client, loved the concept and hosted the event in Acapulco.

Ninety people, including longtime supporters Bill Duke and Robert Townsend, attended that very first Acapulco Black Film Festival. Nearly 800 arrived the next year, and 3,500 attended in 2001. The festival moved to Miami Beach in 2002 and domesticated its name to the American Black Film Festival. From South Beach to L.A. and New York City, the site of 2015’s gathering, between 5,000 and 10,000 regularly attend.

While there are many other black-oriented film festivals, Friday’s uniquely integrates black Hollywood veterans, new talent and numerous corporate partners.

“The artistic community, the actors, the writers, the producers, the directors, they all support us, and the corporate community,” says Friday. “You need companies to support [the festival], so we’ve been very, very successful at getting companies to understand the importance of the mission, the importance of diversity. This was before #OscarsSoWhite, so it was a little more difficult getting companies to understand the importance of inclusion in film and TV.”

Founding partner HBO, known for its signature HBO Short Film Competition, got it from the start. The festival also has welcomed, among others, Fox Searchlight, Starz, TV One and Universal. In addition, it has sought non-traditional partnerships. Cadillac has been a long-term partner. And, this year, McDonald’s sponsored the “My Community” national video competition for aspiring black filmmakers, giving them a chance to be mentored by The Best Man writer/director Malcolm D. Lee. Prudential presented a seminar with Oscar-nominated costume designer Ruth E. Carter (Malcolm X, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Black Panther).

The players may change, but the festival’s primary mission never does. “This was always about empowering people of color to make movies and being a platform for supporting the next generation,” Friday says.

Actress Emayatzy Corinealdi remembers this support the most. “They’re about nurturing you and giving you opportunities,” says Corinealdi, winner of the 2010 Rising Star award, a festival honor first given to Halle Berry. Corinealdi’s recent credits include Roots and Miles Ahead.

Producer Will Packer (Uncle Buck, Think Like a Man) and actor/director Nate Parker (The Great Debaters, Red Tails) are other talents whom this festival embraced early on. And they give back. At this year’s gathering, Packer hosted a “first look” for his latest film, Almost Christmas. Parker did the same with his highly anticipated Nat Turner slave-rebellion film, The Birth of a Nation. Corinealdi was a “Black Women in Hollywood” panelist.

Serving the black film community beyond the festival is very much on Friday’s mind these days. To honor black Hollywood pioneers and welcome new talent, Friday and his team conceived the ABFF Awards as a private dinner long before the #OscarsSoWhite firestorm resulted in BET televising the affair this past February. That successful partnership led to the inaugural ABFF Encore during the 2016 BET Experience, which supports the BET Awards. Standouts included a master class with Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and indie pleaser Destined from this year’s festival.

Other efforts include the short film showcase ABFF Independent on the Magic Johnson-owned network Aspire, as well the series For the Love on Comcast/Infinity, featuring industry interviews with such shakers as Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, the husband-and-wife team known for Being Mary Jane and The Game.

Friday is also confident that a more embracing Hollywood vanguard — like the Oscar-granting Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ recent membership invitation to a record number of black film professionals — won’t drop the curtain on the American Black Film Festival.

“The general market can’t possibly serve our community like we can serve our own, and I promise that won’t change,” Friday says. “We will always have a space to focus on our own.”

By Edmund Andrews

By analyzing data from 4.5 million traffic stops in 100 North Carolina cities, Stanford researchers have found that police in that state are more likely to search black and Hispanic motorists, using a lower threshold of suspicion, than when they stop white or Asian drivers.

The empirical study found that while blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be searched, those more numerous searches are less likely to uncover illegal drugs or weapons than searches of vehicles with white or Asian drivers.

Studies based on the incidence of searches by race, and the outcomes of those searches, have been done in the past, forming the basis for concerns about racial profiling by police.

But the Stanford team – graduate students Camelia Simoiu and Sam Corbett-Davies, and assistant professor of management science and engineeringSharad Goel – developed a third, entirely new measurement called a threshold test.

The researchers show that this new measure offers a statistically rigorous way to quantify how suspicious officers were to initiate a search. For example, did officers conduct searches when there was a 15 percent probability of finding weapons or drugs, or was a 5 percent inkling enough? They correlated these threshold assessments to the race or ethnicity of the subjects across the entire dataset of 4.5 million motor vehicle stops.

“Our threshold test suggests that officers apply a double standard when deciding whom to search, with black and Hispanic drivers searched on the basis of less evidence than whites and Asians,” said Simoiu, adding, “We consistently observe this pattern of behavior across the largest 100 police departments in the state.”

The study marks a new milestone in Stanford’s Project on Law, Order and Algorithms, which has already collected data on 50 million traffic stops in 11 states and is aiming to expand the database to 100 million stops from at least 30 states and every region of the Unites States. The purpose of the database, which the researchers plan to make publicly available, is to shed light on the prevalence of racial profiling and to identify techniques for improving police practices.

In the case of North Carolina, the researchers obtained records for traffic stops in the state from 2009 through 2014. The records included information about the ethnicity, age and gender of the people being pulled over and at least some information on the rationale of police officers for searching particular people and vehicles.

Racial differences

Until now, analysts have used two fairly simple statistical tests to look for patterns of racial profiling.

The first test, known as benchmarking, involves comparing search rates for people of different ethnicities. If blacks account for 10 percent of the local population but 30 percent of searches, that higher incidence would be evidence of discrimination. A second test examines the “hit” rate or outcome – the percentage of searches that actually lead to the discovery of weapons, drugs or other illegal contraband.

In North Carolina, both statistical tests provided strong evidence of unfounded racial discrimination. Police searched 5.4 percent of blacks and 4.1 percent of the Hispanics they pulled over, but only 3.1 percent of whites. In many cities and towns, however, searches of blacks and Hispanics were actually less likely to uncover contraband than searches of whites.

But even when both tests converge, this analysis has limitations. If a higher percentage of people in one ethnic group actually do carry illegal drugs or weapons, for example, a higher search rate for that group may not reflect racial discrimination.

So the Stanford researchers went further than prior studies to get a more accurate view of the presence or absence of unfounded discrimination.

They did this by developing a complex statistical tool they call a threshold test. It analyzed four variables for each of the 4.5 million stops:

• Race of the driver
• Department of the officer making the stop
• Whether the stop resulted in a search – and, if a search occurred,
• Whether it turned up drugs, guns or other contraband

These four variables provided a statistical snapshot of an officer’s threshold of suspicion before searching a person of a given race. As the authors wrote: “In nearly every one of the 100 departments we consider, we find that black and Hispanic drivers are subjected to a lower search threshold than whites, suggestive of widespread discrimination against these groups.”

Specifically, the study found that police decided to search black drivers based on a 7 percent certainty that they might be hiding something illegal. If an African American driver looks nervous, for example, police might interpret the nervousness as a sign of possible guilt and insist on a search.

For Hispanics, the search threshold was 6 percent certainty. But police in these 100 North Carolina cities wanted a 15 percent certainty before searching the vehicles of white drivers. The threshold for searching Asians was about the same as for whites.

Suspicions and searches

The finding has important implications, the researchers noted.

Had North Carolina’s police applied the same standard of suspicion to blacks as whites, the researchers estimate that they would have searched 30 percent fewer black drivers – about 30,000 people over the six years they study. Hispanics would have experienced a 50 percent reduction in searches affecting 8,000 drivers.

But while the new test reveals that the threshold of suspicion varies by race, the authors note a caveat.

“We cannot, however, definitively conclude that the disparities we see stem from racial bias,” they wrote. “For example, officers might instead be applying lower search thresholds to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, a demographic that is disproportionately black and Hispanic.”

The Stanford researchers are collecting traffic stop data from other states to see what patterns are revealed by their analyses. They are also considering ways to apply their new statistical methods to other settings where race or ethnicity may be a factor, such as mortgage lending and hiring.

“We hope our results spur further investigation into allegations of police discrimination, and help improve public policy,” Goel said.

SACRAMENTO, CA – AB 1584 by Assemblymember Cheryl R. Brown (D-San Bernardino) moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee after receiving unanimous support in the Senate Human Services Committee. The bill would reinstate the cost of living adjustment for the Social Security Insurance/State Supplemental Payment (SSI/SSP) grant, and lift an estimated 1.3 million Californians out of poverty.

“I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate for their advocacy on behalf on of California’s seniors,” Assemblymember Brown said. “This legislation will lift over one million seniors and adults with disabilities out of poverty.”

SSI/SSP grants assist seniors and other disabled Californians who are unable to work.  These benefits, administered by the Social Security Administration, provide income support to individuals who are over 65, blind or disabled. These grants are also available to qualified blind or disabled children.  Starting in 2008, cuts made by the Legislature and the Governor reduced grants to amounts well below the federal poverty level.

“As a society, we have a responsibility to ensure that our seniors can age with dignity,” Assemblymember Brown said.  “AB 1584 is a small step toward the full restoration of recession era cuts to the SSI/SSP program, as well as preparation for the upcoming silver tsunami.”

LOMA LINDA, CA- A joyful and emotional celebration marked the completion of Loma Linda University Health – San Bernardino Campus.

“This day is a dream come true,” said Loma Linda University Health president Richard H. Hart, MD, DrPH. After years of planning and18 months of construction, the completion of the project brought Hart to tears as he spoke.

Over 500 members of the community came out to be a part of history for the City of San Bernardino as officials held the ribbon cutting ceremony for the campus Wednesday, June 22.

“We are opening the door to better health and the opportunity to fulfill important educational dreams for many in our region,” said Roger Hadley, MD, dean, LLU School of Medicine.

The one-of-a-kind health care and education facility funded in part by a generous gift of $10 million from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians will house the San Manuel Gateway College, an expanded multi-specialty medical clinic operated by Social Action Community Health System (SACHS) and a vegetarian restaurant, which will showcase the longevity enhancing benefits of a plant-based diet.

“I cannot think of a better partner than Loma Linda University Health – a relationship that goes back 110 years,” said Ken Ramirez, tribal secretary, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. “We are eager to continue to serve, educate and take care of the community we call our home and our family.”

The facility will soon be busy providing health care and education to members of the community: June 27 is move-in day for SACHS; behavioral health services, and family medicine residency; and current SACHS pediatric services begin Monday, July 18.

In early August, the pediatric teaching office begins services, and internal medicine and OB-GYN and specialty clinics begin services.

“I can’t help but get emotional,” said Nancy Young, CEO, SAC Health System. “This building has been our dream for so many years and it’s finally coming true. This project will be the beginning of the transformational healing for the city we all love and are honored to serve.”

San Manuel Gateway College programs, including medical assistant, front and back office skills and certified nurse assistant, are scheduled to begin in September.

Arwyn Wild, executive director of San Manuel Gateway College explained his eagerness to give high school kids the confidence and resources to succeed. “This is not about us,” he said, “it is about the future, providing a light at the end of the tunnel for our kids.”

Coming from the San Bernardino Unified School District, Wild knows firsthand the challenges many underserved kids in our area go through and what they need to succeed. In addition to the college and medical clinic, Farmacy Fresh Café will open in the fall offering a wide variety of ready-to-eat and cooked-to-order vegetarian dishes.

BJ, founder of The Garage Dance Studio

Do you like to dance? Do you like to move? This week BJ, founder of The Garage Dance Studio, is What It Do! Living in an urban community with many talented youth, I am so happy that a positive individual like BJ is giving back. What a breath of fresh air for our youth. Not everyone sings, raps, or plays an instrument; some simply dance! With that being said here’s more about the choreographer they call BJ.

As a young child growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, BJ sat in front of his parent’s TV set constantly mimicking dance moves from artists such as Michael Jackson. He eventually received a chance to perform in front of crowds of people. From family parties, to dance competitions, and dance studios, the talented dancer impressed the public with his street choreography. Watching artists and dancers perform moves motivated him to dance and get better. By his teenage years, BJ realized that dancing could be something to pursue, so he kept going.

BJ was introduced to the dance world when he began touring doing background dancing for upcoming artists and other dance crews in need of extras. His first tour was back in 2000 and from there he has been addicted to the popularity.

He continued to push fourth and was added to a popular tour called “Scream tour” with artists that included as Bow Wow, B2K, and other big names. BJ soon began to make a name for myself in the Dance community when he was a part of the Dance show called “Dance 360,” which aired on UPN where he was called out to battle amongst five other people and won.

With his journey and experience in dance, BJ believes that if he ever had the opportunity to open his very own dance studio he would in a heartbeat and that is exactly what happened. This dude turned his mother’s garage into a mini dance studio and name it “The Garage Dance Studio.”

“Knowing that there is no source of entertainment or dance here in the Lost City a.k. Colton, California motivated me to open the dance studio,” BJ states.“For me being a dance lover, I wanted to open the facility to give youth the opportunity to come and learn dance. A lot of these kids don’t have the means to go to LA. I figured why not give it a shot and open something for them. With over seventeen years of professional experience under my belt, I provide lots of variety to students. My dance instruction involves a mixture of hip-hop, pop, and old-school dance styles.”

“All in all, I feel like I have lived up to my childhood dream by becoming a hardworking, successful dancer and I will continue to push fourth until I reach the top. There are lots of things that I have to still accomplish until I past that bridge. I will continue to bless others with my gift of dance.”

 Make sure you support this young man and his efforts. Remember to make the world your DANCE FLOOR. L’z!

SAN BERNARDINO, CA-Temple M.B. Church invites you to join us as we celebrate our Senior Pastor Raymond W. Turner, for 25 years of service, and honor our First Lady, Cheryl Turner.  The service is Sunday, July 17, 2016, at 3:30pm. Our guest speaker is Pastor Sylvester Turner, Pilgrim Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia.  T.M.B.C. is located at 1583 W. Union Street, San Bernardino.  For more information call (909) 880-2038, or visit our website at www.templemissionarybaptistchurch.org.

Anthonia Kalu

UC Riverside Professor Anthonia Kalu has received two awards from the UC Office of the President to develop, design and teach two online courses, called “Introduction to African Literature” and “Women in African Literature.”

The Innovative Learning Technology Initiative is a UC system-wide initiative that offers high quality online courses that satisfy degree requirements and help UC students graduate on time. Kalu, who joined the faculty in July 2015, has a strong record of program and curriculum building and has taught online classes before.

Kalu, who teaches in both the Department of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages, and the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, said she wants African literatures (oral and written) to become part of ongoing research and initiatives in the Digital Humanities. She said the idea started after a March workshop titled, “Rethinking the Classroom with Digital Strategies: An Interactive Panel Discussion” co-hosted by Computing and Communications and the UCR Library.

She spoke to Sheryl Hathaway, a senior instructional design analyst with UCR Computing & Communications, about the possibility of teaching African literatures online, using the Rienner Anthology of African Literature, edited by Kalu in 2007.

“From the beginning, Dr. Hathaway was excited about the idea of having African literature online and she put together a team to look at possibilities,” Kalu said. The team included computer specialists and copyright experts from the UCR Libraries. The project is funded for a three-year period, and each course has been funded for $110,000.

The courses will involve not only lectures, but also video interviews conducted by Professor Kalu with African authors and storytellers. They are expected to be ready for enrollment in Fall 2017.

“We are proud of Professor Kalu’s pioneering achievement, and we wish her all success in implementing these exciting courses,” said Tom Scanlon, chair of the Department of Comparative Literature.

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

You better check yourself before you wreck yourself!  Take God’s grace for granted if you want too! SUDDEN DESTRUCTION will come upon you so fast that it will have your head spinning.  God will not allow you to become complacent or neglectful concerning Him. He will not allow you to take Him for granted. Beware of taking God’s grace for granted! He does not take it lightly.  When God learnt of what Israel had done to His servants; when He learnt of how Israel had over and over again, betrayed His love and taken His grace for granted, God became furious. His patience had been tested by His very own people – Israel. And so God’s wrath came upon Israel. God used the Roman armies to destroy Israel and its Temple. “What shall you say then? Shall you continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid….”— [Rom. 6:1-2; 15-16]

Listen, God is NOT SLACK! We MUST understand that! And He says that He does not want ANY of us to perish, but that we should ALL come to REPENTANCE! And that is what this message is all about. Today, I plead with you, in love for your soul, not to be foolish, but to be wise, to consider your “latter end,” and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior.  I want you to know that God is stirring up His Spirit in a few who are awake to the call to REPENT AND AWAKEN. We know that time is short, and we have remembered what Christ taught us through His Word and through all of His apostles, including His end time apostle. Those of us who are awake know that time is URGENT. We see the sword and we are heeding God’s instruction to WARN! “Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying….. Speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land … when the watchman see the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosever hear the sound of the trumpet, and take not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul. So I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me…” [Ezekiel 33:1-4]

The Trumpet is sounding…… who will hear? Consider these Scriptures [Leviticus 26] and [Deuteronomy28], the “blessings and cursing” chapters of the Bible; in light of what you have just read: the increasing pressure that God applies in order to draw us closer to Him and to stop taking Him for granted. See how these curses are increasingly intensified each time Israel failed to repent of neglecting of God. What tragic results complacency toward God reaps! I tell you the Holy Spirit cries out for you who are Christians to take your Christian faith seriously, not to neglect it, not to take it for granted, and certainly not to despise it. You have been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. You have been baptized into Christ and called out of Satan’s kingdom and into the kingdom of Christ. But you’re not home free until you’re home; you have been shown wondrous grace. But you also have a warning from God in the pages of the Holy Scripture that you do well to heed, never to take His grace for granted. If only Israel had heeded this warning given by Christ. But, just like their forefathers who left Egypt with Moses, they took God’s grace to them for granted. Don’t let that be said about you!

You may assume that since you were once called to faith and baptized, you don’t need a living and active faith in Christ; you don’t need to hear His Word and receive His Sacraments as much as other people do. You may assume that since you have worked so hard to live a good and decent life, you now deserve God’s grace and recognition more than someone else does. Don’t be deceived! Satan will try to lead you to such false assumptions, to take God’s grace for granted and to imagine that you’ve earned His favor and deserve His goodness. But such wickedness drives out faith and the Holy Spirit and threatens to make your outcome like that of Israel. Payback is a Mother….. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear?

Dear Editor of the Westside Story Newspaper,

We are the three faculty members who authored the campus climate report that was referenced in a recent post to the WSN: “CSU – San Bernardino, Students Find Climate Survey Corrupt and a Waste of Tax-Payer’s Money,” June 16, 2016. In this letter, we hope to correct the factual errors contained in that article.

There were two primary charges made within that article. Although we support the students’ right of free speech and an open dialog of issues, we must correct their misconceptions that:

1. Taxpayer money was wasted, and

2. The climate survey was “corrupt” (which we interpret from comments in the story that the survey was seen to be “misleading, conveniently inaccurate, and deliberately designed to attack President Morales and his administration.”)

First, we provide a thumbnail reaction to those charges and then for the interested reader, provide a longer explanation with regard to what we perceive as the most serious charge — that the survey was biased.

1. Waste of taxpayer money: We three faculty who analyzed the data and wrote the report

2. Corrupt” survey: As professionals who conduct surveys as part of our work, the survey were not compensated in any way for the work done. More specifically, we did the work without any payment and we did the work largely on our weekends, outside of our usual university duties.

The survey itself was hosted by a marketing firm in North Carolina, without charge to the campus. Further, we did the work on our home computers, so no state resources, apart from the email program to send the invitations, were used in analysis or report preparation. Thus, the charge that the survey was a “waste of taxpayer money” is untrue, as no state resources were used in its administration, analysis, or report preparation was written, administered, and evaluated according to scientific standards. We took every precaution to be sure that the survey would be an unbiased picture of the campus climate as experienced by the employees of the university.

The survey was conducted to assess climate, which by necessity does include leadership as leaders are largely responsible for the cultures of their organizations. Students, who are not employees of the campus, were not invited to take the survey because: a) it was our understanding that CSUSB’s Office of Institutional Research had planned a climate survey for students for 2016, thus any effort on our part to survey students would have duplicated that planned effort, and b) as item 1 above demonstrates, we had very limited resources with which to conduct the survey.

We applaud the fact that the students who wrote the article for WSN are concerned and are committed enough to speak out. We believe, however, that they are misinformed and that the community is well-served by knowing the facts. We stand ready to meet with the students who wrote the original article to provide further information if they are interested. And for readers who are interested, following is more detail regarding the method by which we conducted the survey.

As discussed in the background section in both reports (Phases I and II), the Senate Ad Hoc Committee was formed and included faculty with extensive expertise in survey design, organizational climate, morale, and leadership, survey methods, and data analysis. Additionally, several employees who have substantial knowledge of staff issues on the campus also joined the committee. Three administrators were invited to join the committee; all declined. It was brought to our attention that the administration was working on a student survey. Indeed, as of this writing, a 2016 survey is in development (see Current Student Survey 2015-2016 at www.csusb.edu/institutional-research/institutional-research). Students also have several opportunities to evaluate aspects of university life relevant to their experiences as students. The National Survey of Student Engagement administers a survey on an annual basis and all students have an opportunity to participate (see current year and previous years’ results at www.csusb.edu/institutional-research/institutional-research/national-survey-student-engagement).

The decision to design the survey for faculty, staff, and administrators was appropriate given that organizational climate surveys are typically administered to those employees who have long-
term occupational ties and commitments to the organization, and are most directly affected by the climate. The Chronical of Higher Education (CHE) acknowledges the importance of assessing employee perceptions of climate on a regular basis as a means of understanding employee morale, perceptions of leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, etc. In the CHE national survey titled “Great Colleges to Work For,” the survey sample consists of administration, faculty, exempt and non-exempt staff.

With regard to assertions that the survey was “corrupt” (misleading and designed to disadvantage the President of CSUSB), we direct readers to the Methods section of the campus climate report (Phase I), pages 7 through 9 at http://senate.csusb.edu/reports.htm. The committee began its work by identifying key dimensions of organizational climate based on the relevant literature of climate. We then examined climate surveys that had already been administered at other CSU and UC campuses, including a climate survey of CSUSB staff that was administered in 2010. The majority of the questions in the CSU surveys were in an item database developed at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, and many of those items were in the 2015 CSUSB campus climate survey. The final survey that was administered is open to the public and can be viewed at the following URL: sites.google.com/site/2015csusbcampusclimate. In addition, we encourage readers to review the Frequently Asked Questions, also on that website, to learn more about the survey process.

Steps were taken to minimize biases. For example, when we learned that fall quarter 2015 coincided with the three year review of the campus president, we purposefully waited to launch the survey until after the deadline had passed for the campus community to submit comments about the president to the Chancellor’s Office.

In addition, prior to administering the survey, three CSUSB employees (one of whom was retired) reviewed each item independently to ensure no bias was present in the wording of the items and that the items and instructions were articulated clearly.

Finally, the Campus Climate Ad Hoc committee submitted the full survey and informed consent forms to the CSUSB Institutional Review Board (IRB) and received approval to administer the survey. The IRB is an entity charged with ensuring that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights and welfare of humans participating as subjects in the research. To accomplish this purpose, IRBs use a group peer review process to review research protocols and related materials (e.g., informed consent documents, surveys, interview questions, and protocol design) to ensure protection of the rights and welfare of human subjects of research.

As professionals in the field of organizational behavior, we know that assessing the climate of any institution on a regular basis is crucial for organizational learning. By surveying organizations, leaders gain a better understanding of the overall attitudes of their employees and use the results to develop or change practices and policies based on the actual survey responses/data. Many successful organizations and institutions, as a best practice, administer climate surveys regularly because they recognize the importance of maintaining a healthy climate, which is positively related to employee commitment, productivity, and satisfaction, among other benefits.

CampusClimateReportMarch8 2016 date corrected

Jan Kottke, Professor, Department of Psychology, chair of the ad hoc campus climate committee

Kathie Pelletier, Professor, Department of Management

Barbara Sirotnik, Professor, Department of Information Decision Sciences