Cal Poly introduces new initiative to allow selected freshmen to begin during summer quarter, but with a catch 

Six hundred students in Cal Poly's fall 2024 freshman class will get the unique opportunity to start during the summer quarter—but not everyone is on board.

Jeffrey Armstrong, Cal Poly's president, told New Times that the university surveyed prospective students on whether they would be interested in applying for a year-round operation initiative, and an overwhelming number said yes.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Cal Poly
• CLASSES START EARLY While some university officials are excited for Cal Poly's year-round operation initiative, faculty members feel as though they were left in the dark during the decision-making process.

"We'll bring in around 5,300 first-year students and only 600 of them would have to opt in for this program," Armstrong said. "We know there's many more that will want to do this, so we're in a good position to meet demand for this [program]."

Students who opt in will agree to spend the summer quarter of their first and third years on campus while deciding to spend one of their fall, winter, or spring quarters off campus, according to a letter from the president's office.

Currently, the program will only be extended to students in the College of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering, and Orfalea College of Business, Armstrong said.

"We selected these programs through the interaction and discussion with the provost and the deans, and they're high-demand programs," he said. "But we will see all majors from all colleges as we phase into future years."

However, the program is facing backlash from Cal Poly's California Faculty Association (CFA) chapter, which said it wasn't aware of the plan prior to Armstrong announcing it on Sept. 18.

"I wanted to bring to your attention that, yesterday, the California Faculty Association sent a message to the Chancellor's Office demanding that Cal Poly stop all planning and implementation work on the year-round operations idea of President Armstrong, and the CSU engage in a 'meet and confer' process to address all the issues in the idea that can impact the benefits, appointment, and any other conditions of employment that the program may cause," CFA Chapter President Lisa Kawmura wrote in an email to Cal Poly faculty, coaches, counselors, and librarians.

"There is a possibility that the way the idea was presented may be an unfair labor practice under the California Public Employee Relations Act," Kawmura wrote.

She added that because there hadn't been any meaningful conversations about the program, the union reminded the CSU management and Armstrong that the CFA operates under a collective bargaining agreement and has protections under the state's Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA).

"One of the objectives of HEERA is to protect faculty from unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment. That is what President Armstrong's approach does—it alters how and when we work regardless of him saying that no one will be forced to do anything they don't want to do," the email stated. "We are not a corporation but a community of learners and educators whose relationships are defined by transparent and binding agreements."

While CFA isn't against the year-round operations, the email stated that the association is sensitive to the imposition of changed working conditions without consultation.

When asked about CFA's email, Matt Lazier, Cal Poly's assistant vice president for communications and media relations, said university administration didn't receive the email but Armstrong looks forward to these ongoing conversations.

"As President Armstrong mentioned during his fall convocation address, more conversations and work needs to be done according to shared governance and in collaboration with the campus community as details and plans are determined and pulled together," Lazier said.

Cal Poly also recently announced that in the fall of 2026, it will switch from quarters to a semester-based system.

Lazier said that the year-round operation is being launched with a manageable first phase and will be adjusted as the school brings on more students and majors, while at the same time, the university is in a years-long process of transitioning to a semester calendar.

For seniors in high school who are interested, Armstrong said summer quarter will be available during the admissions process, and students will be notified in the spring.

"We'll start about a week after the spring quarter, so it'll be sometime in June of 2024," Armstrong said.

Fast fact

• From Oct. 6 through 8, the SLO Botanical Garden will host its biannual Art in the Garden event. The Jill Knight Duo will be playing live music, craft activities will be provided for kids, and California native plants will be available for purchase. Learn more at slobg.org. Δ

Reach Staff Writer Samantha Herrera at [email protected].