By Tabari Morris
A Sonoma County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order that slowed the Sonoma State University plan to cut more than 20 departments and programs by the end of this year, a plan first proposed as a means of addressing a significant budget deficit.
The restraining order was the result of a student-athlete-led petition, enacted on the grounds that the university’s process for cutting the departments was against campus policy.
While the cancellation of the academic programs is still pending a May 1 hearing, the temporary restraining order does not address the student’s request to freeze the university’s cancellation of all NCAA Division II athletics.
The lawyer for the students, Ross Middlemiss, described the court’s ruling as a firm affirmation of the gravity of the procedural improprieties that the university leadership is accused of having committed.
Both the students and faculty are left out to dry as they await the next move by the court and the university’s reaction to the ongoing legal struggle.