Cal State Identifies 3 Finalists to Run 370,000-Student System : Education: They are a corporate executive and the heads of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Texas Woman’s University.

California State University trustees Tuesday identified the two men and one woman who are finalists to become chancellor of the 20-campus, 370,000-student system.

The only candidate from inside Cal State is Warren J. Baker, president of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The other two are Shirley S. Chater, a former UC San Francisco official who is president of Texas Woman’s University, and Barry Munitz, an educator and businessman with a Texas-based conglomerate tied to the lumber and real estate industry.

A final choice is expected Thursday shortly after the finalists are interviewed by the full Board of Trustees at a meeting in Long Beach. The winner will succeed Ellis E. McCune, acting chancellor since last May when then-chancellor W. Ann Reynolds was forced to resign in a controversy over large and secretive pay raises for herself and other top administrators. Reynolds is now chancellor of the City University of New York.

One well-informed Cal State official speculated that Baker, president of the San Luis Obispo campus since 1979, may have the strongest chance because of his familiarity with the system and the Legislature, particularly important during the current budget crisis. “If I were betting, that’s where I would place my money,” said the administrator at the Long Beach system headquarters.

Others suggested that Munitz, who was chancellor of the University of Houston’s main campus from 1977-82, has an appealing combination of academic and business skills. Yet Munitz’s current position as vice chairman of Maxxam Inc., which owns Pacific Lumber Co., troubles legislators such as Tom Hayden, the Santa Monica Democrat who chairs the Assembly Higher Education Committee, because of the lumber firm’s controversial logging practices.

Chater, who has led Texas Woman’s University since 1986, is thought by several Cal State officials to be the least likely of the three finalists.

However, J. Gary Shansby, the Cal State trustee who headed the search committee of administrators, students and faculty that recommended the finalists, insisted there is no ranking. “There clearly is a strong view by virtually anyone on the committee that all three could be chancellor,” said Shansby. “A lot depends on their presentations Thursday and their dialogue with the trustees.”

With the help of an executive search firm, the committee culled the three from an original pool of about 700 names, of whom 12 were interviewed during closed-door meetings in California in recent weeks, Shansby said. The trustees are looking for a strong leader who can guide the system through state budget cuts, help restore legislative and public confidence in the wake of the Reynolds’ pay dispute and--in a reversal of the Reynolds era--help return power from Cal State central administration to the 20 campuses, Shansby explained.

Baker, 52, has won high marks as president of the 17,500-student campus in San Luis Obispo, which has shed its old agricultural image as “Cow Poly” and has nationally respected programs in engineering, architecture and the sciences. (Of the 20 Cal State schools, San Luis Obispo has the toughest admissions standards.)

A civil engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico, Baker was a professor and then vice president for academic affairs at the University of Detroit before taking the Cal Poly presidency.

Jim Conway, a speech communication professor who heads the Faculty Senate at San Luis Obispo, said Baker was very successful in forging ties with industry for donations, technological advice and jobs for students while also showing lobbying skills in Sacramento. On the other hand, Conway and officials of the faculty union said Baker has strained relationships with employee unions. “It seems that every problem is forced to go to . . . arbitration,” Conway said.

According to student government leaders, Baker remains popular among students, even though some disagreed with his decision to cancel the annual student festival because riots last year led to numerous arrests and injuries. Ron Palacios, university affairs director for the statewide student association, said his group was “very concerned” about Baker’s candidacy because the San Luis Obispo campus has a poor record in recruiting minority students. About 70% of the students are white, 10.6% Latino, 7.2% Asian and 1.9% black.

Baker declined to be interviewed Tuesday but issued a statement through his office saying he was “honored to be considered for this important position.”

Munitz, 49, is the most controversial of the three because he is president of Federated Development Co., the holding company controlled by Texas financier Charles E. Hurwitz. Federated is the largest shareholder of Maxxam, which acquired Pacific Lumber and KaiserTech Ltd., parent company of Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. Maxxam also has vast real estate holdings and, through a subsidiary headed by Munitz, owned a failed savings and loan in Houston taken over by federal regulators in 1988.

In an interview Tuesday, Munitz--who is a vice chairman of Maxxam--said he had no control over decisions to sharply increase logging in Northern California. His supporters contend that he helped push Pacific Lumber away from clear-cutting in old-growth areas.

Hayden, who has tangled with Pacific Lumber on several environmental issues in the past, said Tuesday of Munitz: “I know he has some educational credentials but I wonder if his credentials as a corporate raider don’t pose some problems too for people who care about California’s environment.”

The Cal State system is still recovering from Reynolds’ departure and “doesn’t need another cloud,” Hayden stated, adding that he wanted the trustees to look closely at Maxxam’s methods of financing and corporate takeovers.

(Last week, California officials said they were negotiating to preserve the 3,000-acre Headwaters Forest in Humboldt County in a trade involving junk bonds issued by Pacific Lumber. The state wants to acquire the bonds, now owned by the federal government, and trade them for the forests.)

Before switching to business, Munitz headed the public University of Houston’s main campus for five years and was a vice president of the University of Illinois system. He has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University.

Munitz said he wants to return to higher education even though his salary, currently reported to be above $400,000, would drop to about $175,000 if he becomes Cal State chancellor.

“This is, to me, perhaps the best opportunity in the country to establish a value for undergraduate learning and teaching rather than research and graduate studies,” he said. During her tenure, Reynolds unsuccessfully tried to push Cal State more toward research like the UC system, something trustees do not want.

At the University of Houston recollections of Munitz are mixed, ranging from descriptions of a very effective leader to one who did not listen much to faculty.

For 18 years, Chater was a professor and administrator at UC San Francisco, rising to vice chancellor for academic affairs. For the past five years, she has headed Texas Woman’s University, a 10,000-student campus which is located in Denton, midway between Dallas and Ft. Worth, and which is the nation’s largest university primarily for women.

Despite the school’s name, 7% of its students are men. The state-financed school is said to be particularly strong in health-related and business studies, but its low profile nationwide may hurt her candidacy. “It’s not Radcliffe,” one Cal State administrator said.

Robert Benfield, vice president for fiscal affairs at Texas Woman’s, said Chater helped boost enrollment 25% in the last five years and raised academic standards. “She’s just done an excellent job for us,” he said. “Our university matured under her leadership. So I’m not surprised a large system is interested in her.” Others familiar with Chater say she is savvy in governmental affairs.

Tamara Null, a student government leader, said Chater “does make it a point to get to know the students. She is a very sweet lady who really does help the university. I’d be very, very sorry to see her go.”

Chater, 58, has a Ph.D. in higher education administration from UC Berkeley. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

THE FRONT-RUNNERS

A look at the finalists for chancellor of the 20-campus California State University system:

Who: Warren J. Baker

Current Job: President, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, since 1979.

Experience: University of Detroit, vice president of academic affairs and dean of college of engineering; appointee to National Science Board.

Education: B.S., M.S. degrees in civil engineering from University of Notre Dame; Ph.D. in civil engineering from University of New Mexico.

Background: Helped Cal Poly San Luis Obispo shed image as agricultural school and establish strong ties with industry. Questions remain about low minority enrollment and union disputes.

Who: Shirley S. Chater

Current Job: President, Texas Woman’s University since 1986.

Experience: UC San Francisco, vice chancellor of academic affairs; senior associate, Presidential Search Consultation Services for Assn. of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Education: B.S. from University of Pennsylvania, M.S. from UC San Francisco, Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in educational administration.

Background: Helped raise academic standards, boost enrollment by 25% and maintain good ties with state government. But Texas Woman’s may have too low a profile.

Who: Barry Munitz

Current Job: President, Federated Development Co. in Texas.

Experience: Chancellor, University of Houston main campus; academic vice president of University of Illinois system; serves on national panel on research strategies.

Education: B.A. in classics and comparative literature from Brooklyn College; M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton in comparative literature.

Background: Known as effective leader with strong, although controversial, business experience. His position with firm that owns Pacific Lumber troubles environmentalists.