photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB

Shock and sadness still permeate the Sonoma State University community after administrators announced major cuts to the university's academic and athletic programs.

Many are still trying to come to terms with what the campus will look like come fall.

Professor Emily Acosta Lewis said she knew the budget was in bad shape, but it didn't make Wednesday's news any less shocking.

"A lot of us understand that there's a legitimate budget crisis, but I don't think anybody quite thought that this many programs would be cut," Acosta Lewis said. "And I don't think many people thought athletics would be cut."

Acosta Lewis serves as faculty chair of Sonoma State's academic senate.

She said she believes as many as ten more academic programs could have been eliminated had not the university's NCAA athletics been axed; still, she says it's cold comfort.

"About half of the 46 faculty or tenure or tenure track...so this was their permanent home," Acosta Lewis said. "We had an open session on Wednesday to let people drop in, and there were lots of tears and the general feeling is sadness and devastation and heartbreak and loss, and not anger."

Declining enrollment is cited as a major reason for the deep budget and program cuts.

SSU's student body is down almost 40% from a decade ago.

It makes the pain of the cuts all the sharper in the Geology Department, where faculty went the extra mile to bring students like Loet Van Hoven to the Rohnert Park campus.

"Immediately, Sonoma State Geology department reached out to me and scheduled a Zoom call and they talked to me and told me the whole entire process," Van Hoven said. "They welcomed me in and said, 'Hey, come to Darwin Hall and we'll tour around through the whole entire building,' and they made me feel welcome, and at that point I said, this is kind of where I want to be."

Acosta Lewis acknowledged the concerning message the cuts send to prospective students, but she says she remains hopeful about the school's resilience.

"I really hope we're around in 10 years," Acosta Lewis said. "I think Sonoma State is really a gem of a campus. The faculty and staff are there primarily for the students. They want what's best for the students. Many of the faculty could have taken jobs at research one institutions such as UCLA or Davis, but they decided to come to Sonoma State because it's a teaching institution."

Acosta Lewis said there have been no talks within the CSU Chancellors Office of merging Sonoma State with another CSU, like what's been done with Cal Maritime in Vallejo folding into Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.