Coyotes,

We now have the undeniable proof of exactly why the administration is trying to bypass a student vote. The Athletics Department is in a massive financial hole, and the university is using this deceptive "survey" to force commuter students to pay for their incompetence.

The $5 Million Cover-Up

The Athletics Department has not kept track of its budget since 2018. Because of this, they were forced to undergo an official audit by the CSU system in 2024. The findings of this financial report are absolutely damning.

The audit uncovered jaw-dropping levels of financial negligence, including:

• A travel expense claim for $14,513.17 submitted without a single supporting receipt.
• A $30,000 travel advance where the campus could not provide documentation to show if the unused funds were ever returned. Unauthorized purchase orders made completely outside of the standard procurement process.
• Mismanaged asset tracking, including missing laptops from departed employees.
• Basic cash-handling protocols ignored, such as failing to document when the athletics safe combination was changed after employee turnover.

Because of this severe irresponsibility, the multi-year budget projections for the IRA fund show an ending balance deficit of -$5,181,278 for the 2024-25 fiscal year. This deficit is projected to worsen to over -$8.6 million by next year.

Do the Math. This is a bailout. If this fee hike passes, our IRA fee jumps to $500. By their own mandate, 68% of that fee goes directly to Athletics.

$340 per student × 19,000 students = $6.46 million dollars.
That is more than enough to quietly bail out the Athletics Department's $5.1 million deficit, with absolutely no repercussions for the people who created it.

The Administration is Panicking

As this information comes to light, the administration's response has been to shut down student oversight.

The Faculty Senate just passed a resolution in complete opposition to this fee hike. The CSU-wide California State Student Association (CSSA) passed a separate resolution in equal condemnation. When the Division of Student Affairs initially brought this fee up to the Campus Fee Advisory Committee (CFAC) in February, the committee voted 7-3 AGAINST it.

How did the administration respond?

Today, May 6th, 2026, they officially canceled all further meetings for CFAC and other oversight boards.

While other CSU campuses are collaborating with their student governments on fee adjustments, CSUSB stands entirely alone. They are shutting down collaboration to ram this through.

This is a Violation of Trust and Policy

Bypassing student oversight to cover a deficit violates CSU Executive Order 1102, which mandates transparent handling of student fees.

This is not the behavior of an administration willing to act in honest transparency and goodwill. It is the behavior of a school attempting to cover for the financial ineptitude of one of its departments, and to silently fix the shortfall by making students take the burden.

The school is violating CSU Executive Order 1102, which dictates how student fees must be handled transparently. This is no longer just a debate about school fees and transparency, but a literal fight to prevent the school from making us pay for their own negligence and holding those responsible to account.

We cannot let them get away with this. Keep sharing this petition, keep spreading the word, and flood the official Canvas survey with "NO" votes.

In solidarity, Coyotes Against the Hike