Aging Structures at CSUN Trigger Debate by Faculty

An aging and deteriorating physical plant and severe campus crowding have sparked a faculty debate at California State University, Northridge over whether the school should continue to expand in the next decade.

“People have sort of come to the end of their patience,” said Edda Spielman, Faculty Senate president. “There’s an unwillingness to think about growth until we have at least taken care of the resource problems we have now.”

The debate was triggered by a request from California State University Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds to expand the student enrollment by 19% in the next eight to 10 years--from the equivalent of nearly 21,000 full-time students to 25,000.

Decay, Crowding Cited

On one side are faculty members who say student-body expansion should be halted because growth has already led to campus decay and crowding that is undermining educational efforts. On the other side are the administrators and faculty members who believe CSUN must agree to enroll more students in order to receive additional state money to bring its facilities up to par.

“I’m not opposed to growth,” said political science chairman Eugene C. Price, who occupies the middle ground. “It may be the only way we’ll ever get any resources. But there hasn’t been adequate attention paid to our current plant.”

CSUN administrators acknowledge that state funds for upgrading and maintaining the 30-year-old campus and adding facilities have not kept pace with enrollment increases. One reason is that CSUN administrators failed to anticipate the modest gains of the last few years.

Competing for Funds

The administrators say the planned construction of major buildings and the addition of modular classrooms should help alleviate the chronic problems. But in the long run, they contend that expanding enrollment is the only way to compete successfully for a greater share of limited state funds.

“It’s always easier if you’re in a growing environment to get public support,” said Associate Vice President Charles A. Manley, who oversees facilities planning and operations at CSUN. Without increasing enrollment, Manley said it would be politically unrealistic for the university to seek more money from the Legislature for buildings and repairs.

Top California State University administrators agree that resources should be provided to support campus growth, but they emphasize that there can be no promises.

“The chancellor’s office is in no position to guarantee anybody anything,” Lee Kerschner, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said. “You have a budget process that goes through Sacramento.”

Nevertheless, a CSUN task force recommended “allowing enrollments to grow only if the resources received are commensurate with that growth.” The advisory group determined that student applications could easily boost enrollment to 25,000.

The Academic Affairs Planning Council is expected to make a final recommendation on the growth issue to CSUN President James W. Cleary in February, said Bob H. Suzuki, vice president for academic affairs. Cleary will then make a decision, in which Reynolds is expected to concur, Suzuki said.

For some faculty, however, the answer is as clear as a broken thermostat.

In a resolution sent to Cleary during 1987, the English Department said, “The physical plant at CSUN is deteriorating at an accelerating pace because it was built as cheaply as possible and has suffered from years of deferred maintenance due to budget cutbacks.”

Major complaints include the following:

A lack of consistently temperate classrooms and routinely functioning elevators in the eight-story Sierra Tower building. Failed heating on cold days leaves students and faculty shivering; malfunctioning air conditioning on hot days has them sweltering, and elevator breakdowns in all seasons leave them stranded, faculty members say.

A dearth of faculty offices that forces instructors to share cramped quarters with one or more colleagues. Some professors say this impairs their ability to meet privately with students, torpedoes morale and leads faculty to spend more time working off campus.

The Faculty Office Building, substantially scaled down from its original design and completed in 1984, provided fewer offices than the faculty’s temporary quarters in a nearby apartment building. The structure also has been beset by heating, air-conditioning and ventilation problems because of design deficiencies from the beginning, Manley said. The architect’s insurance company has agreed to pay for some renovations.

Crowded classrooms and parking lots. Some students are unable to get into required classes because they are full and “the parking space shortage has moved from a subject of black humor to the threshold of violence-generating stress” for faculty, staff and students alike, the English Department memo said.

Fire safety concerns. The administration building was charged with 24 fire code violations by the state fire marshal during an October inspection that a university administrator termed “disastrous” and “embarrassing.” The Los Angeles City Fire Department cited seven deficiencies during a Nov. 12 inspection of the Sierra Hall complex, where 40% of all classes are held.

Electrical overload. The university’s electrical system is at full capacity, which means that plugging in any new device--even a coffee pot--necessitates unplugging something else or rerouting wires, said Martin Holzman, the director of physical plant management.

Health hazards. A petition that originated in the Geography Department in December said the stairwells in the Sierra South building were so “stained, splotched and dirty with ‘dust curls’ ” that “many people with respiratory illnesses such as asthma, emphysema and allergies cannot tolerate using” them.

The campus structures, many of them 25 years old, handle 30% more students and faculty than they were designed for, campus officials said. To make matters worse, budget cuts forced a 23% cut in custodial staff in the past three years.

Interim steps have been taken to limit enrollment temporarily and to obtain modular buildings for temporary office and classroom space, administrators say. And a systemwide inspection of classrooms is being considered that eventually could result in funding for remodeling and modernizing.

In addition, Manley said construction and renovation slated over the next three years could alleviate some of the overcrowding. He cited plans for a new science building and renovation of the existing one; a new business administration, economics and education complex; an addition to Oviatt Library and conversion of South Library to a computer center.