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  • New California law will guarantee Cal State admission to qualified high school graduates

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    NEW LAW GRANTS AUTOMATIC ADMISSION INTO CAL STATE SCHOOLS FOR QUALIFIED HIGH SCHOOL GRADS. YEAH, A LOT OF STUDENTS VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. GOVERNOR NEWSOM SIGNED THE BILL TO STREAMLINE THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS AND BOOST ENROLLMENT. KCRA 3’S DUNCAN CORTEZ SHOWS US WHAT THIS NEW LAW WILL DO. IT’S A NEW DOOR TO HIGHER EDUCATION, QUALIFIED HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE MEETS, MINIMUM CAL STATE REQUIREMENTS, COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE. EASY ENOUGH. WHAT’S THE CATCH? SO WE’RE JUST CONNECTING THE TWO. AND SO IT DOESN’T COST ANYTHING BUT A POSTAGE STAMP. GOT IT. SO YEAH, TAXPAYERS DON’T HAVE TO PAY ANYTHING. CORRECT. YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT. IT’S A NEW LAW FROM A PILOT PROGRAM THAT LAWMAKERS ARE HOPING WILL IMPROVE. SOME CAL STATE SCHOOLS SEEING LOW ENROLLMENT NUMBERS AND STREAMLINE THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS. WE ALREADY KNOW WHO IS COMPLETED THE COURSES WITH A 2.5 GPA. LIKE, WHERE DO YOU KNOW THAT HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES THAT MEET THE MINIMUM CSU REQUIREMENTS OF A 2.5 GPA OR C GRADE AVERAGE WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE ADMITTED INTO 16 CSU SCHOOLS THAT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO TAKE THEM IN, BYPASSING THE APPLICATION PROCESS. YOU’LL GET YOUR LETTER IN SEPTEMBER, WHICH MEANS THAT THEN YOU CAN THEN YOU CAN STILL DECIDE, HEY, I MIGHT. I DIDN’T KNOW I WAS A UNIVERSITY OF MATERIAL. THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SHARING A STATEMENT WITH KCRA 3 SAYING BY FORMALIZING AND EXPANDING THIS PROVEN MODEL STATEWIDE, SB 640 WILL CREATE A MORE STREAMLINED, DATA DRIVEN PATHWAY FROM CALIFORNIA’S PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS TO ITS PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES. IT’S SOMETHING FRESHMAN MECHANICAL ENGINEER AHMED DAVIS SAYS COULD BE USEFUL, AS HE JUST WENT THROUGH THE APPLICATION PROCESS MONTHS AGO. A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE. SO A STATE UNIVERSITY AND THEY REALLY LIKE HELP WITH THAT FOR THE MOST PART. COULD THIS POTENTIALLY DILUTE ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS IF STUDENTS JUST HAVE TO MEET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND THEN AUTOMATICALLY GET INTO COLLEGE? NO. SO SO I MEAN, WE’RE VERY WE MADE SURE IT’S GOT TO BE RIGOROUS. IT’S THE SAME EXACT ADMISSION STANDARDS THAT APPLY TODAY IN SCHOOLS WILL BE USING TRANSCRIPT DATA FROM THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGES EDU WEBSITE TO DETERMINE STUDENT ELIGIBILITY, ALL FOR A MORE STREAMLINED APPROACH. IN SACRAMENTO STATE, DENNIS CORTEZ KCRA THREE NEWS. THIS NEW LAW WILL START WITH 43 SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS CALIFORNIA, AND IT WILL EXPAND

    New California law will guarantee Cal State admission to qualified high school graduates

    Gov. Newsom signs SB 640, expanding statewide admissions program

    Updated: 8:09 PM PDT Oct 10, 2025

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    The California State University Direct Admissions Program has been expanded statewide with the signing of Senate Bill 640 by Gov. Gavin Newsom this week, aiming to increase access to higher education amid post-pandemic enrollment declines.Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, District 3, who authored the bill, said it drew broad bipartisan support and emphasized that the new law does not use taxpayer dollars.“The only cost — a postage stamp to students letting them know they are accepted in,” Cabaldon said.Sixteen CSU campuses, including Sacramento State, will participate in the program. Six campuses are currently too full to take part: San Jose State, San Diego State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach. Students can still apply to those campuses through the traditional admissions process.Lawmakers hope the new law will make it easier for students to pursue higher education, particularly at campuses such as Sonoma State, which has seen the largest decline, nearly 4,000 students.SB 640 builds on CSU’s first systemwide direct admissions program, launched last year as a pilot with the Riverside County Office of Education. It also expands CSU’s existing Dual Admission Program, known as the Transfer Success Pathway, to ensure more students — especially those who might not have otherwise applied — see a clear and supported route to earning a CSU degree.The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2026, with full statewide participation beginning for fall 2027 applicants. For students applying now for fall 2026, the priority application period runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 1. CSU’s existing direct admissions program — which includes the Riverside County Office of Education’s 23 districts and 20 additional districts statewide — will remain in effect, and eligible students in those districts have begun receiving notifications.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    , Calif. —

    The California State University Direct Admissions Program has been expanded statewide with the signing of Senate Bill 640 by Gov. Gavin Newsom this week, aiming to increase access to higher education amid post-pandemic enrollment declines.

    Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, District 3, who authored the bill, said it drew broad bipartisan support and emphasized that the new law does not use taxpayer dollars.

    “The only cost — a postage stamp to students letting them know they are accepted in,” Cabaldon said.

    Sixteen CSU campuses, including Sacramento State, will participate in the program. Six campuses are currently too full to take part: San Jose State, San Diego State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach. Students can still apply to those campuses through the traditional admissions process.

    Lawmakers hope the new law will make it easier for students to pursue higher education, particularly at campuses such as Sonoma State, which has seen the largest decline, nearly 4,000 students.

    SB 640 builds on CSU’s first systemwide direct admissions program, launched last year as a pilot with the Riverside County Office of Education. It also expands CSU’s existing Dual Admission Program, known as the Transfer Success Pathway, to ensure more students — especially those who might not have otherwise applied — see a clear and supported route to earning a CSU degree.

    The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2026, with full statewide participation beginning for fall 2027 applicants. For students applying now for fall 2026, the priority application period runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 1.

    CSU’s existing direct admissions program — which includes the Riverside County Office of Education’s 23 districts and 20 additional districts statewide — will remain in effect, and eligible students in those districts have begun receiving notifications.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • S.F. State employee who oversaw sexual misconduct and discrimination cases alleges retaliation

    S.F. State employee who oversaw sexual misconduct and discrimination cases alleges retaliation

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    A former San Francisco State University employee who oversaw the handling of sexual misconduct and discrimination cases alleged that the campus president and an official with the state university system tried to interfere with an investigation into harassment allegations against a professor and said that the school failed to properly investigate hundreds of claims of wrongdoing.

    In a 20-page complaint filed Wednesday against the campus and the California State University system, Heather Borlase said that she was terminated last summer after she launched an investigation into multiple Muslim students’ complaints that a professor showed a drawing of the prophet Muhammad in his Islamic studies class without warning or reason.

    Borlase alleged that San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney and CSU Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Leora Freedman believed the professor’s actions were protected under academic freedom and asked Borlase to halt the investigation. But Borlase said that a probe was necessary to determine whether the professor’s actions constituted religious harassment. Visual depictions of Muhammad are considered offensive for many Muslims.

    Freedman wanted to offer time “for the parties to reach an informal resolution,” according to the complaint, and took the case from Borlase in April 2023. Roughly a week later, after the case faced public criticism by an outside advocacy group, Borlase said she was placed on administrative leave and learned months later that her job would not be reinstated. According to the complaint, she was told the decision was “in the best interest of the university.”

    The university said that “the change wasn’t made to influence the outcome of any investigation.”

    “Like all CSU campuses, S.F. State takes seriously its responsibility to provide students and employees a safe learning and working environment,” director of communications Bobby King said. “Different leadership was desired to lead work in the department, which was already happening to improve processes and outcomes.”

    Borlase claimed that she inherited more than 400 unresolved cases of harassment, misconduct and discrimination when she started in 2021 and had received pushback from university officials who “expressed concern about the exposure” when she tried to address the reports.

    According to the complaint, the university “encouraged her to only work on the most egregious cases involving current students or faculty. Ms. Borlase insisted on bringing all cases into compliance.”

    In one instance, an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against a professor found that people were dissuaded from bringing such claims forward. But Borlase said she was discouraged from taking corrective action that could put the university “in a negative light,” the complaint said.

    In another instance, an investigation found that a campus administrator had racially harassed an employee, calling them “a runaway slave.” According to the complaint, Borlase was asked to “downplay the university’s failure to act when concerns … were first raised.”

    “S.F. State’s failure to timely respond to student and staff complaints, its interference with the integrity of investigations, and scapegoating and terminating Ms. Borlase cannot be condoned,” said Katherine Smith, one of the attorneys representing Borlase.

    Borlase’s concerns coincided with CSU’s examination of its policies around Title IX — the federal ban on sex discrimination — following multiple accounts of inconsistencies over how university officials handled complaints of sexual misconduct and retaliation. On several of CSU’s 23 campuses from San Diego State University to California State University Maritime Academy, Times investigations found that students and employees lacked confidence in the Title IX process and often feared that their issues would be ignored. A Times analysis of complaints from the 2021-2022 school year found that about 3% of more than 2,600 reports of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct were formally investigated.

    “It is critical for students to know it is safe to come forward and when they do, their complaints will be fairly investigated,” said Wendy Musell, another attorney for Borlase.

    Shortly before Borlase’s dismissal last year, the Cozen O’Connor law firm shared a report with CSU’s Board of Trustees and the university community that found flaws in how CSU campuses collect data, widespread distrust by students and employees in how wrongdoing is addressed and a low number of investigations.

    A state audit found similar breakdowns. And in a push for broader accountability, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that would require the CSU system to disclose the outcome of sexual harassment cases and investigations.

    The CSU is the largest four-year public university system in the nation. It has previously said that it will make changes to its handling of complaints and is hiring additional staff to improve its investigative process.

    “Transforming culture is not easy or quick. It takes time and significant resources,” Board Chair Wenda Fong told The Times last year.

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    Colleen Shalby

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