Central Region Will Get Next UC Campus, Regents Decide

If there are any new UC campuses, the first will be built in the state’s sprawling central region, the Board of Regents decided Thursday.

The area has no UC campus, and the decision was met with jubilation by San Joaquin Valley officials who have complained that their constituents are denied easy access to a UC education. They also were happy about the many economic and cultural benefits a campus would bring.

“We are very pleased,” said Edward J. McIntyre, a spokesman for a committee pushing for a UC campus on what is now rangeland in Madera County near Fresno. “There is a tremendously under-served population in the Central Valley.”

An estimated 63 sites will be studied within the 16-county region, from San Luis Obispo and Kern counties in the south to San Joaquin and Calaveras counties in the north, and from the Pacific Coast to the Nevada border, UC officials said. The area has a fast-growing population.

Special attention will be given to the population centers in the San Joaquin Valley--including the Fresno, Modesto and Merced areas--according to UC Senior Vice President William Frazer. The main reason, he said, is the low UC attendance rate among San Joaquin Valley high school graduates: 4%, half the statewide average.

UC President David P. Gardner said his staff will narrow the list of possible sites to about 10 by July and that the regents will choose the two or three most promising locations in November. A final decision is expected in mid-1991 after further environmental study.

To cope with rising enrollment, the UC system wants to add three new campuses to its current nine within the next decade or so. However, the enormous cost of that plan--at least $1 billion--guarantees tough scrutiny by the Legislature.

Also, Gardner warned that no new campus will be built if voters fail to approve Proposition 111, the June ballot measure that modifies the state spending limit.