Six years of passive leadership strikes a chord with students

After the past few weeks of turmoil and unanswered questions, one thing remains certain: the campus community’s confidence in President Judy Sakaki has been on a steady decline for the past few years, and this current situation was the last straw for most students. In light of the no-confidence vote deliberations beginning last week, it’s important to remember that this latest scandal is not the only reason Sakaki is being deemed unfit to continue by many faculty members and students. 

From the perspective of someone who entered this university in 2018, Sakaki has handled many delicate issues poorly over the years. In 2018, one of the hottest topics was the stabbing that occured in the Sauvignon Village dorms just before finals week in the Spring. In a press conference, Sakaki stated, “All of us at Sonoma State are shocked and saddened by this tragic event. Our hearts go out to all who’ve been impacted. Our focus today will be continuing to make sure the needs of our students and our campus community are met.”

This seems to be an appropriate way to proceed, but unfortunately, no action followed this statement. There was no continued effort to make the dorms safer, not even after a multitude of articles published by The Star criticized the campus for being poorly lit, poorly patrolled, and any effort to protect students in the dorms was described as poorly maintained. After this on-campus tragedy, emergency call buttons across campus were found to be non-functional, and many paths leading to the dorms from campus still remained unlit. Sakaki merely said her piece via email and her PR team stated they wanted to move forward, continuing on with business as usual.

SSU alum Christie Quinn lived in Sauvignon Village in Spring 2018 and explained that, “The response time of the campus police was about five minutes in dorms that were directly across from the police station. They sent one dude on a bike.” She went on to explain that, once the dorms reopened after the incident, everyone living in Sauvignon Village was being hounded by media personnel looking for commentary, as well as curious students looking to see the scene of the crime for themselves. Sakaki and the university did nothing to protect students from intrusions, and Quinn noted that the stabbing served as a reminder of how easy it is for outsiders to break into the dorms. Quinn also noted that the university placed her in a dorm the following year that was right next door to the man who sexually assaulted her.

In Spring of 2019, the campus experienced sediment contamination issues with the well water supply, resulting in restricted access to clean water all across the university. Students in the dorms were told not to brush their teeth, wash their hands, or cook with the water from their faucets, the cafeteria shut down their water dispensers, and Sakaki’s solution was handing out one plastic water bottle per person per day for about a week. On top of all that, the news that the water was contaminated was not made public until over 24 hours after the initial findings, so students drank the cafeteria water and washed their hands with their tap water all day until the news finally broke. 

That same semester, news that the dorms would be closing for the remainder of the school year struck the campus community right in the heart. As a result, classes were moved online and remained full price as Sakaki scrambled to deal with crippling budget cuts. Riley Smith, a third year student who transferred to SSU in Spring 2019, said, “It was really disappointing to have my college experience ripped out from under me so soon. The worst part of it all is that I had to pay full tuition. I didn’t even know what campus looked like until this semester, yet I paid the same price as if I had a completely different experience.”

One of the most recent developments was an issue with donated art decorating the walls of Sakaki’s private residence when it should have been brought to campus. In an article by the Los Angeles Times, it is explained that nearly $85,000 worth of artwork was reduced to rubble after Sakaki’s home was tragically burned down in the 2017 Tubbs fire. Upon further investigation, that artwork was not merely being stored in the couple’s home, it was being displayed in the hallways as if it belonged to them. A university spokeswoman claimed the art was displayed there because the president often hosted university events in her home, but one of the artists quoted in the LA Times article stresses that this is not what the donation was intended for.

Events like these shake a campus to its very core, and the lack of response from Sakaki was alarming both in the moment, and looking back.

Taking on the role of president will be extremely stressful under any circumstance, and it is understandable that nobody will ever do the job of president perfectly. Pinning everything wrong with this institution on Sakaki is not the goal here, and it never was. These judgements of Sakaki’s leadership do not come from a place of contempt or malice, rather from students’ concern for the university’s future.

The current sexual harassment scandal involving Sakaki’s husband, backed by everything Sakaki has done in the past, is taking away from the purpose of an institution like Sonoma State: to teach people about their passions in a safe, judgement-free environment. If students are expected to follow the Seawolf Commitment – which asks students to commit to integrity, respect, excellence, and responsibility – then students should be able to hold SSU’s faculty to the same standards.

We need a leader that will own up to the university’s mistakes, addressing them and speaking about what will be done differently moving forward. Instead, Sakaki’s responses to the many controversies, scandals and tragedies in the past four years have been focused on saving face with a positive message. This almost makes it seem like Sakaki wants to prove to the CSU system that she is fit to continue leadership, instead of working with the university to suggest different ways to solve students’ issues. With all this scandal, it’s nearly impossible to simply turn your head and focus on your studies, and that is why Sakaki needs to own this mistake and resign. As long as her name remains attached to this university, staff and students will know no peace.