{"id":386445,"date":"2026-07-04T23:22:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T23:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386445\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T23:22:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T23:22:29","slug":"fresno-state-foundation-leaders-push-back-on-csu-mandates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386445\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno State Foundation leaders push back on CSU mandates"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Leaders criticize CSU-ordered board term limits and direction to add students and faculty.A CSU review found the foundation faced heightened risk of fraud and misstatement in 2024.The foundation has implemented 21 of 46 CSU-required governance changes and posts updates.<\/p>\n

During defensive speeches Tuesday afternoon, the Fresno State Foundation\u2019s leadership suggested it\u2019s been treated unfairly since January, when the California State University system found<\/a> its governance style had put the foundation at serious financial risk.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the foundation<\/a>, a nonprofit that manages $315 million in grants and donations for Fresno State, touted their accomplishments and clapped for each other throughout the nearly two-hour meeting, the final one of the academic year. They expressed feeling unappreciated by the state and pointed to a 20-year record of clean external audits.<\/p>\n

Some questioned whether they have to obey the CSU Chancellor\u2019s Office, which has ordered them to implement term limits on their volunteer board and add student and faculty representation as part of a 46-point improvement plan<\/a>. Board members have delayed and resisted those two changes<\/a> and argue that they know what works for Fresno better than CSU bureaucrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis matter of telling accomplished people around this room that, \u2018You don\u2019t count, somebody else made a decision, and you will abide by that decision,\u2019 I think that\u2019s a little bit over the top,\u201d George Soares, the foundation\u2019s governance committee chair, said during the meeting.<\/p>\n

Like several of his board colleagues since January, Soares declined an interview with The Fresno Bee after the meeting. It was unclear if Soares believes the CSU\u2019s findings about the foundation are false and whether the findings warranted a board leadership shake-up.<\/p>\n

The CSU\u2019s review<\/a>, which examined operations over the 2024 fiscal year, determined the organization was exposed to a heightened risk of fraud and financial misstatement, though no actual fraud was identified. To blame for the risk, according to the report, were weakened financial controls and oversight from a board with little university representation and leadership turnover. (Some members have served for decades.)<\/p>\n

Tensions and emotions ran high at Tuesday\u2019s meeting because that day was the foundation\u2019s self-imposed deadline to act on the CSU\u2019s requirements that the board restructure itself and implement term limits. The board members decided to request an extension from the CSU, but they also criticized the orders and said they want to see final term limit guidance from the state before making decisions.<\/p>\n

They made it clear they disagree with a decision by Fresno State President Sa\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez-Sandoval<\/a> not to invite several long-time members whose terms ended that day back for more board service. Soares questioned what Fresno State is doing about looming agricultural job losses caused by water restrictions and where the CSU was during the 2023 flooding in Corcoran.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of you were there,\u201d he told his board colleagues, \u201cbut the system wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chair Chair of Governance Committee George Soares makes a point to board members that he did not agree with the CSU Chancellor’s Office report during the final full board meeting for the Fresno State Foundation Tuesday afternoon, June 30, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com Foundation board questions what CSU will do if they defy it<\/p>\n

The foundation has completed 21 of the 46 changes required by the CSU and is working on several others. It provides updates<\/a> on its webpage.<\/p>\n

Leaders on Tuesday said they were concerned the plan to remake the board will cause a quick loss of institutional knowledge.<\/p>\n

Soares said he is not opposed to adding students and faculty to the board, which is currently composed of the university\u2019s president and community members. But he said the board\u2019s legal counsel has determined making the change as ordered by the CSU would cause the foundation to waive rights established by Title V of the California Code of Regulations<\/a>. The law allows approved non-student auxiliary organizations that were operating on April 1, 1969, to keep the board composition they had at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (the CSU) say, \u2018We mandate it, and you will do it,\u2019\u2019 Soares said. \u201cThe issue is there needs to be analysis of the law to see what we\u2019re giving up for Fresno State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board members also noted the CSU\u2019s term limit guidance is still a draft and said it\u2019s certain to be changed over time.<\/p>\n

Claude Laval III, one of the board members whose terms ended Tuesday, suggested there\u2019s little sense in stressing over compliance with something \u201cwe know is going to be changed instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are they going to do if we don\u2019t?,\u201d he said, drawing laughs from the rest of the board. \u201cIs there going to be a force of nature that attacks us?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chair Chair of Governance Committee George Soares, left, listens as chairperson Vinci Ricchiuti, right, discusses governance reforms in board composition and term limits from a critical report during the final full board meeting for the Fresno State Foundation Tuesday afternoon, June 30, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com Fresno State Foundation leader says group has endured \u2018nonsense\u2019<\/p>\n

Soares said his \u201cranting\u201d during Tuesday\u2019s board meeting was the result of \u201cmonths of frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis nonsense that we\u2019ve been put through in the last six months is a negative for this university,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He described the foundation\u2019s leaders as having endured \u201cunfounded accusations\u201d from the CSU and said the state has never called them to talk about term limits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would they do without auxiliary?\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think this system fully appreciates a foundation board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soares also took aim at Fresno State, questioning what the university is doing about the job losses the region is facing because of state water restrictions\u2019 impacts on farming.<\/p>\n

He told a story about how a CSU president and the system once planned to sell a university farm, and he helped rally students to stop the sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe farm is still there,\u201d Soares said. \u201cSomething that couldn\u2019t be done was done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soares then connected the saving of the farm to the idea that the foundation does not have to comply with the CSU\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard enough in the last six months from people around this table, in part, that say, \u2018If the system says it, you got to do it,\u2019 \u201d Soares said. \u201cIf I would have bought into that many years ago, that university would not have a farm today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Erik Galicia<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea\u2019s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Read our AI Policy. Leaders criticize CSU-ordered board term limits and direction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-386445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}