Cal State Faculty Divided on Establishing South County Campus

A preliminary vote Thursday showed that Cal State Fullerton’s faculty representatives are sharply divided on whether the university should start a branch learning center in south Orange County.

After two hours of debate, the Cal State Fullerton Academic Senate voted 20 to 15 in favor of the south county expansion. That was a straw vote, however, and the final, official show of faculty sentiment will not come until next Thursday, the Academic Senate said.

“I would not be surprised to see a reversal of this vote next week,” said LeLand Bellot, a history professor and member of the Academic Senate, after the preliminary vote. Bellot supports the proposed branch, but he noted that the issue is a volatile one on the Fullerton campus.

Unless the Academic Senate concurs with the branch expansion, the proposal is not likely to get the approval of the California Postsecondary Education Commission, Academic Senate Chairman Julian Foster said. Cal State Fullerton administrators have said that if next Thursday’s vote is favorable, they will seek final approval for the branch from the California State University Board of Trustees and funding by the Legislature.

One Drawback

An opponent of the branch campus idea, Foster said one drawback would be that it wouldn’t attract minorities. “I can’t think of a more exclusive white, middle-class ghetto than in south Orange County,” Foster said.

Faculty proponents of a branch center said Cal State Fullerton can help hundreds of students in south Orange County who are a long drive from Fullerton. Opponents argued that a branch center would not provide “quality education” and also argued that opening a branch might hurt the Fullerton campus.

Cal State Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb and her administration firmly support launching a branch of the university somewhere in south Orange County. A two-year study by an Academic Senate committee also has recommended the expansion. The study noted that Cal State Fullerton is a commuter campus and that many south Orange County students are deterred by freeway traffic from driving north to take courses. A 1982 survey showed that many community college students in south Orange County are not transferring to Cal State Fullerton primarily because of traffic.

UC Irvine currently is the only public four-year university in south Orange County. UC Irvine, like all University of California campuses, by state law restricts its enrollment to the top 12 1/2% of high school graduates. The California State University system, by contrast, can admit the top 33% of high school graduates.

As proposed by Cobb and the study committee, Cal State Fullerton would rent facilities in south Orange County and offer junior- and senior-level courses to community college graduates wishing to complete their work toward a bachelor’s degree. The branch would open in early 1988; the study committee recommended Mission Viejo as the site.

‘Mandate to Serve All of County’

Cobb, a member of the Academic Senate, told the group that Cal State Fullerton has “the mandate to serve all of Orange County.” She said a branch center is needed to serve students currently unable to commute to Fullerton.

But faculty opponents argued against the branch proposal last week and again Thursday as the Academic Senate took up the issue.

Said Academic Senate Chairman Foster: “I am convinced it (a branch) is going to be a third-rate enterprise.”

Foster also contended that few Cal State Fullerton faculty members would want to commute to that area of the county to teach.

But philosophy professor David Depew said he believes that a cadre of “enthusiastic” Cal State Fullerton teachers could and would be found to launch the new branch.

Emmett Long, a speech communication professor who favors a south Orange County branch, said: “I was here at the beginning of this institution, and if you are talking about something starting as third-rate, well, I would say that this campus (when it started) was somewhere between fifth- and 10th-rate. You have to start modestly. . . .”