The pavilion will enable the music center to host large-scale performances — including jazz, reggae and other international genres, as well as ballet — that draw a sizable audience, said Erik Greeny, interim vice president for university development.

A group of Sonoma State University faculty and students announced Sunday they will protest an honorary degree the school plans to give to a major donor to the Green Music Center at Saturday’s graduation ceremony.

This was one of the questions we discussed with 18 journalism students from Santa Rosa Junior College on Tuesday. What do you think?

Instead of giving $12 million to SSU for its Green Music Center, former Citgroup CEO Sandy Weill and his wife should give it to the public, says Susan Lamont, office manager of the Peace and Justice Center. She says its time for voters to say no to corporate control of government and take back the wealth from the ultra-rich.

Sonoma State University is getting top marks from a watchdog organization for upholding the state’s public records law. The grade, however, runs contrary to the impressions of some SSU faculty who’ve long complained the university has shrouded the business affairs surrounding the Green Music Center.

SSU Provost Eduardo Ochoa takes issue with recent criticism by professors that scarce resources are being diverted from the university’s primary mission of educating its students. He says the university has undergone transformational changes that are drawing students and gaining support among faculty members.

It is time for the primary budget deciders at Sonoma State University to step down and allow others to rebuild the academic mission of the university. That is the opinion of two SSU professors who believe that funding for undergraduate instruction has been severely mismanaged by the current administration.

Sonoma State University is diverting scarce resources away from the university’s primary mission: the education of its students. That’s the opinion of retired SSU professors Tony White and Bob Karlsrud. They say the administration’s decisions to shift resources from instruction to the Green Music Center and expand the number of managers have left many faculty members dissatisfied.