Cal State Faculty Unit Votes for South County Satellite

A proposed California State University campus for booming southern Orange County advanced a major step Thursday as Cal State Fullerton’s faculty representatives voted 21 to 9 in favor of starting a branch in the Mission Viejo area.

The lopsided support by the Academic Senate for a satellite campus came after three weeks of heated debate and earlier indications that the faculty was sharply divided on the question of expanding into south Orange County.

Faculty support, however, as voted Thursday was contingent on a number of factors, including that “no (financial) resources be diverted from the Fullerton campus.”

The faculty approval came after a report earlier this month from the California Postsecondary Education Commission staff in Sacramento that recommends state funding for a south Orange County branch of Cal State Fullerton. Commission approval is necessary for the Legislature to consider appropriating funds for such an expansion.

Suzanne Ness, government affairs director for the commission, said Thursday that apparently the only remaining stumbling block for the proposed satellite is a shrinking state budget.

“It’s going to be up to finances, and you know what’s happening there,” Ness said. She was referring to a recent state report indicating that the state’s income is dropping and that Medi-Cal expenses are greater than expected. The two factors, taken together, may wipe out the state’s $1-billion reserve.

Nonetheless, Ness said, the proposed branch could get final authorization and then wait for available financing.

According to William Storey, the commission’s assistant director for finances and facilities, the first-year costs of operating the satellite would be $484,652.

The university has said it is considering either leasing an existing commercial building or having a building constructed.

Cal State Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb has said the university has a duty to bring classes closer to rapidly growing south Orange County. She has said many students in that area find it difficult to commute to Fullerton because of congested freeways.

Jack W. Coleman, Cal State Fullerton’s vice president for academic affairs, said after Thursday’s vote that he was “very pleased” and is hopeful that the proposal will be on the February agenda of the California State University Board of Trustees.

If CSU trustees endorse the expansion, as is expected, Cal State Fullerton’s administration would like to open the branch in 1988. State financing, however, must be provided.

Anticipates 500 Students

“Realistically, I’d say that spring of 1988 is when we’d be able to start,” Coleman said. “We think we’d be starting off with 500 students, and the Postsecondary Education Commission thinks that we’d have somewhat more students than that.” Coleman estimated that 2,000 students would be enrolled at the branch by 1992.

The branch would offer junior and senior courses only. The university’s goal is to help community college graduates in south Orange County to a four-year bachelor’s degree.

The location of the proposed branch has not been settled. The Cal State Fullerton faculty recommended Mission Viejo. The California Postsecondary Education Commission recommended a site in Irvine at the juncture of Interstates 5 and 405.

An Academic Senate committee studied the expansion proposal for two years and this month issued a report in favor. The 44-member Academic Senate, which represents the Cal State Fullerton faculty, was divided on the issue, however. The faculty group debated the topic at three weekly meetings before taking the final vote.

On Thursday, opponents of the expansion argued that the Fullerton campus would suffer and that south Orange County wouldn’t really get a “quality” education program with a branch.

Supporters of the move said that Cal State Fullerton will benefit from the expansion and is clearly obligated to serve the students in south Orange County who want to attend a California State University.