University Outgrows Inferiority Complex : Education: Once UC Riverside was hemorrhaging students. But enrollment has doubled in the last 10 years and the campus’ future looks bright.

What a difference a decade has made at UC Riverside.

Ten years ago, the campus between citrus fields and the Box Spring Mountains was paranoid about disastrously declining enrollments and its stereotype as the neglected stepchild of the UC system. Rumor had it that the state wanted to shut the school down or at least chop away at faculty ranks.

“There was demoralization, there was apprehension, there was a strong sense of insecurity,” recalled Carlton Bovell, the Riverside microbiology professor who heads the statewide UC faculty council.

However, UC Riverside’s enrollment has practically doubled since 1980 to 8,716 and officials predict a student body of 18,000 within the next 15 years, fueled by the population boom in the Inland Empire and growth limits at other UC campuses. A faculty hiring binge and the first on-campus construction since the 1970s are under way.

As a result, UC Riverside is regaining its pride and asserting itself more, say education leaders around the state. “The sense I have is that it still has some self-esteem problems but its star is definitely on the rise,” a knowledgeable official in UC’s central offices said.

And, in a remarkable switch, people now worry that what was once advertised as “the campus with the personal touch” will lose the intimate scale that for some students outweighed the negatives of a smoggy, unglamorous location. Admission to Riverside had been a consolation prize for many students shut out of more popular UCs in sexier spots such as La Jolla and Westwood. But easy access to teachers and counselors converted some reluctant UC Riverside freshmen into satisfied alumni.

“We are interested in trying to preserve as much as possible the quality of undergraduate education and the manageable class sizes,” philosophy professor Alex Rosenberg said. “It would be the worst possible thing to lose that to gain the characteristics of a big campus.”

Yet, shades of other UCs, Riverside students are starting to complain about overcrowded parking lots, delayed dormitory construction and getting bumped from classes. For example, Rob Breeding dropped out of UC Riverside in 1987 to pursue a writing career and returned to the school this fall. He was shocked at the changes.

“It used to be laid back, and you got a real relaxed feeling,” said Breeding, who is an opinion writer for the campus newspaper. “Now it seems like you are almost in the middle of a beehive.” He joked that the new slogan seems to be “come one, come all, we’ll squeeze you in somewhere.”

Such a description might amuse undergraduates used to real beehives like UCLA. Surprisingly green compared to the dusty foothills nearby, UC Riverside is a pleasant and relatively quiet campus of mainly low-rise, brick buildings. Student activity at the landmark carillon tower and grassy mall at the school’s center would fill one small corner of Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza.

UC Riverside is still the smallest of the eight general education campuses in the University of California system. (UCLA, with about 36,000 students, is the largest and is not allowed to grow.) But UC Riverside’s growth is expected to overtake UCs in Santa Cruz and possibly Santa Barbara. Both those beachside campuses face strong local opposition to expansion while the boosterish Riverside area welcomes rapid student increases.

“I don’t think anyone has any ill will toward the university’s growth because the other growth is so large,” said Riverside City Councilman Ron Loveridge, who is a UC Riverside political science professor. He referred to recent preliminary U.S. census figures which show that Riverside County population grew 72%, to 1.1 million, in the past decade while neighboring San Bernardino County grew by 56% to 1.39 million. Its relatively low housing prices attractive to young families, the Inland Empire was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation.

Besides, unlike UCLA or UC Berkeley, UC Riverside has plenty of room to grow. The campus is bisected by Interstate 215 and most academic and extracurricular activities are on the eastern 576 acres. A new master plan calls for dormitories, offices and sports fields on about half of the 530 western acres, now mainly planted with lemons, avocados and asparagus for the agricultural studies that were the school’s foundation. Classroom and office space would triple and a large pedestrian bridge would span the freeway.

Countering faculty opposition to building on the farm research lands, administrators say the property would be replaced by Coachella Valley holdings more suitable to the increasingly important desert agronomy.

There are doubters who don’t think the surrounding population boom will continue or necessarily mean steady increases in UC rolls. But UC Riverside Chancellor Rosemary S.J. Schraer is not among them. She and community leaders wanted central UC administration to authorize even more rapid growth--to as much as 27,000 students in 15 years. UC system President David P. Gardner feared that would lessen quality of education. After much haggling, a compromise of 18,050 was recently reached, with the possibility of higher numbers later.

In her office with stunning mountain views, Schraer recently insisted that her dreams of a much bigger UC Riverside will come true. Referring to Gardner and the regents, she said: “I still don’t think they fully understand what’s happening in the Inland Empire.”

UC Riverside long has had identity troubles. It grew out of a UC citrus experiment station founded in 1907. The campus itself was established in 1954 as what was supposed to be a small liberal arts college devoted to undergraduates, a public Swarthmore of the West. Five years later, its mission was changed to that of a full-service research university with graduate programs.

Enrollment quadrupled during the 1960s, reaching 6,168 in 1971. But then the three newer UCs closer to the coast--San Diego, Santa Cruz and particularly Irvine--began to grow fast, draining off students. Meanwhile, Riverside unsuccessfully fought a reputation as the dullest and smoggiest UC campus.

Enrollment spiraled down 26% by 1979. And since funding is linked to enrollment, dreams of faculty hirings and new buildings gave way to job freezes and fears of firings and closure. Even the football team was dropped in 1976 to save money and has not been revived. (UC Riverside has well-regarded baseball and basketball teams, although Schraer recently decided to keep the school in Division II, angering students who want to play in the big league Division I.)

Several state studies assert that rapid expansion at UC Riverside would cut the need for new UC campuses from the three proposed to only one, presumably in the San Joaquin Valley. Among the eight existing general UC campuses, Riverside still receives the fewest applications for freshman admission, although it has shown the largest percentage growth. Admissions officials claim that Riverside is increasingly a first choice of applicants, less a consolation prize.

One sign of increased popularity came two years ago when the campus required that freshman applications be filed by November, the same as the other UCs; in the past, applicants could have dawdled until spring or summer.

Social life has been a difficult issue in recruiting. “It’s not a college town. People have to make their own excitement,” student body President Dennis Raglin said. Now many students trek off to Los Angeles, Pasadena or San Diego for weekend fun.

The city of Riverside hopes to convert a stretch of University Avenue, which connects downtown Riverside to the school, from its current jumble of motels and fast food joints into a miniature Westwood, complete with movie theaters and cafes. In addition, a new gymnasium is being planned.

Raglin, a junior from Livermore, said he came to Riverside after being rejected by UC Berkeley and being offered deferred admissions at UC Santa Barbara. Many students think about transferring out of UC Riverside but wind up staying because of its small size and what he described as “very quality education.” He fears that loss of that intimacy and a push for bigger graduate programs will make UC Riverside less appealing.

“If we lose our smallness, then what will we have that’s unique when you put us against a UCLA?” he asked.

The school won national acclaim in a 1986 study of the ratios of undergraduates who over three decades went on to earn Ph.D.s in any field at any institution. UC Riverside alumni ranked 28th in the nation, bested in the UC system only by UC San Diego, which ranked 11th. By that measurement, UC Riverside topped much better known universities like Columbia, Stanford and Cornell.

Graduate studies at Riverside have not fared as well--not surprising since they didn’t exist 30 years ago. Its graduate botany program was ranked among the top 10 in the nation in a 1983 survey of 32 disciplines by the Conference Board of Associated Research Councils, but no other Riverside department was mentioned. UC Berkeley had 30 and UCLA 18 programs in the top 10.

UC Riverside badly wants law and medical schools. In a rare public confrontation, UC regents in July voted to strip such programs from Chancellor Schraer’s master plan. Regents are reluctant to approve such expensive schools but the denial, some observers said, also showed that UC Riverside’s new ambitions may overreach political and economic reality.

Turnover in chancellors also has hurt UC Riverside’s image, many teachers say. Tomas Rivera took over in 1979 and died of a heart attack in 1984 at age 48. Daniel Aldrich was acting chancellor for a year. Then, Theodore L. Hullar headed the school from 1985 to 1987 until he was shifted to head UC Davis. Hullar’s move infuriated the Riverside faculty, who complained that their campus was treated like a farm team.

(Schraer, 66 and in her post for three years, won’t be at the helm beyond 1992 because of mandatory retirement rules. She hinted that she won’t stay until then.)

On the other hand, the start last year of the College of Engineering was a symbol of campus revival. The program now has 100 freshmen and sophomores and is expected to grow to 2,000 students in 10 years. It is to have a strong environmental focus, complementing well-established Riverside programs in water resources, air pollution, geophysics, agriculture and biology.

Meanwhile, the faculty growth, from 420 to 550 over the past four years, is seen as the best way to boost overall reputation. That growth has been particularly strong in the humanities and social sciences. On-campus office space is so limited that some faculty have their offices in a former motel just off campus that UC bought last year. Professors there have private bathrooms and nice views of the swimming pool.

Among the arrivals is American literature expert Emory Elliott, who was recruited from Princeton University’s English department last year. He said UC Riverside students are as bright as Ivy Leaguers, although he meets many fewer undergraduates who want to go on to graduate school in English. “It doesn’t make a difference in the class discussions. It makes a difference in the number of professional conversations that take place in my office,” he explained.

Marvin Nachman, a psychology professor at UC Riverside since 1958 and now chairman of the faculty Senate, said the school is much more vibrant than it was a few years ago. “It’s not growth for growth’s sake. It’s growth for the good things growth brings: the extra cultural and intellectual activities and the additional faculty.”

Nachman has seen the number of students in his freshman survey course increase in recent years from 250 to 475, requiring more carefully plotted lectures and more help from teaching assistants.

As for fears that the campus will become too impersonal, Schraer said she hoped students would still receive individual attention in their programs. Any loss of that would be outweighed by the increased course offerings and bolstered research, she said, explaining: “Yes, I believe the nature of the campus will change a bit. But at the same time I don’t look negatively at it.”

UC RIVERSIDE

Since 1980, enrollment at UC Riverside has nearly doubled to about 8,700. Officials predict a student body of 18,000 within the next 15 years, fueled by the population boom in the Inland Empire and growth limits at other UC campuses.

UC Riverside Student Enrollment

1970: 5,991

1980: 4,707

1990: 8,716

Source: University of California