Big week for Chico State

Chico State President Paul Zingg was passed over this week for the top job at San Diego State. The post instead will be filled by University of Maryland provost and Senior VP Elliot Hirshman, reports the San Diego Union Tribune.

While that news is sinking in, the California State University Board of Trustees met Tuesday (May 10) and gave a thumbs-up to the controversial plan to construct a parking structure for the campus at the corner of Second Street and Normal Avenue. The trustees approved the project despite a significant amount of student opposition.

“On balance, it’s going to be a big benefit to the campus,” said Joe Wills, Chico State public affairs director. “But we understand that parking structures are not popular.”

Students in professor Mark Stemen’s Environmental Thought and Action class have staged protests and written letters to trustees saying the structure goes against Chico State’s sustainability mission. “I told them to hold their heads high, and to keep speaking truth to power,” Stemen wrote in an e-mail.