After facing delays spanning two semesters, Cal State Fullerton President Ronald Rochon announced during Thursday’s Academic Senate meeting that SmartAccess+ will not be implemented on campus.
“I made a decision, most recently, and I mean as of yesterday, that I would pump the brakes permanently on SmartAccess+ in this iteration,” Rochon said on Thursday. “At this point, SmartAccess+ is off the table, officially, effective now.”
If implemented, the SmartAccess+ program would have functioned as an extension of Titan Direct Access services providing a flat rate for all required course materials and textbooks in an effort to curb the costs of essential course materials.
This development came after Academic Senator Emily Kuffner proposed a resolution on shared governance and SmartAccess+, raising concerns about the lack of transparency in the decision-making process for SmartAccess+.
“The decision to proceed with SmartAccess+ as a university-wide course-material program was made before the Academic Senate, its relevant committees, and the broader campus community were provided an opportunity through established shared-governance processes to review, deliberate, and make recommendations on whether the University should adopt such a program,” the resolution reads.
In response, Rochon said they had not made any decisions on implementing SmartAccess+ and that a meeting would be held to involve students in the discussion.
“We were intentional, and our main intention was to make sure that we involved our student body, in particular, who would be directly impacted by SmartAccess+,” Rochon said. “Our intention as an institution is to make sure that we do not bring harm to our student body.”
The Daily Titan interviewed several students on Thursday, and none had heard of SmartAcess+.
The TitanShop’s website says students would have been automatically enrolled in the program starting spring 2027. The only meeting involving the larger student body is an open forum scheduled for Oct. 1.
The meeting ended before Kuffner’s resolution on shared governance and SmartAccess+ were reviewed. It will be discussed once again at the next senate on Sept. 24.
The Research and Critical Educations (RACE) association, with over 200 CSUF faculty and staff members, wrote a letter over a year ago asking for clarification on how the administration consulted with students, data that proved that SmartAccess+ was beneficial as the university implied and details about affordability.
“We’re concerned about the way in which administrators, who aren’t teaching, are making decisions on behalf of faculty and students, and might not be aware of all the ways that might affect our students and our teaching environment,” Kuffner said.
On Aug. 27 the administration replied to their letter after months of delay. In their response, they did not directly address the questions in the letter, but explained that “at its core,” SmartAccess+ is meant to lower costs for students.
Regarding concerns about students being consulted, they responded that they had partnered with Associated Students for outreach. They’d also rely on emails, Canvas and social media to inform students of its implementation.
The letter responded to concerns about shared governance, explaining that in the past two years they held multiple meetings to gather feedback from over 20 divisions. RACE clarified that academic committees and the senate shouldn’t be places to gather feedback, but to vote on decisions, such as SmartAcess+, before they reach the campus community.
“Shared governance is not simply receiving a letter. It is not being invited to a meeting after a decision has already been made, and it is not merely being heard in this chamber,” said Montserrat Fuente-Camacho, co-president of RACE.
After the two week trial period, students would have been charged a fee of $245 each semester automatically. To avoid being charged, students had two months to either opt out or change their plan to SmartAccess Flex, which would’ve allowed them to manually select the books they wanted.
RACE said that they saw fault not only in the lack of shared governance during the implementation process of SmartAccess+, but also in the program itself.
“We’re concerned that a lot of students might not understand how that works,” Kuffner said. “Especially students who might be lower income or first generation, and that it might add extra costs to those students who are already struggling.”