CSSM Loses Its First Professor, Over Lack of Research Lab Space

Citing a lack of adequate research laboratory space, a Cal State San Marcos biology professor has announced he will resign--becoming the first professor to leave the new university--to take a post in South Dakota.

Cliff Summers, 36, said he was offered both laboratory space and as much as $35,000 in research start-up funds to go to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

“This move is a big opportunity for me in the sense that I’ll have my own laboratory, and that was the critical thing,” said Summers, an assistant professor who received his doctorate from the University of Colorado in 1987.

Summers’ departure is a result of a year of frustration at the lack of research facilities for the science faculty at Cal State San Marcos.

When Summers and other science faculty were recruited to the new university as part of the second wave of hiring, they were promised they would have space available to not only teach laboratory classes, but also to conduct research.

That promise went unfulfilled as it was realized that the university, which operates out of a San Marcos business park, was not zoned for industrial uses such as laboratory facilities, and that the facilities that did exist did not meet fire codes. Classes were then moved to Palomar College, which has teaching labs but no research labs.

“Everyone has things that are important to them, and when you’re a scientist, the important thing to do is science and research,” said Summers, who will take his new post in August.

Cal State San Marcos President Bill Stacy has long heralded the fledgling university’s potential for scientific research and had hoped to take advantage of the campus’ proximity to high-technology industries in San Diego.

But even Stacy acknowledged that the current lack of labs and other research facilities has hurt the university, particularly in faculty recruitment.

“Where I am, bluntly, hurting is when the biologist and the chemist says, ‘Where are the labs?’ and the musician says, ‘Where are the practice rooms?’ and I can’t show them any,” Stacy said last month.

He and the biology department still hope to institute a strong focus on laboratory work in teaching sciences, but the California State University system has yet to approve the extra money necessary to do so.

University officials said they will not hire a replacement for Summers until they are closer to moving to a permanent campus with research facilities.

Cal State San Marcos’ permanent campus has been beset by difficulties over the past year, most of which were beyond the university’s control. Construction of the first phase of the campus, scheduled to be completed by the fall of 1992, was delayed by financial problems on the part of the general contractor. That phase of the campus has been set back at least a semester.

The failure of Proposition 143, a bond issue, in November also meant a loss of $7.9 million in equipment and building plans for the university, delaying the second phase of construction, which includes more laboratories. Equipment for the campus’ first phase was also included in the bond issue.

The lack of lab space made it difficult for Summers, who, as a young professor in pursuit of tenure, must conduct research and publish.

“Someone who is active in research and fairly young is going to have the same problems, unless they have close research ties somewhere in the area,” Summers said.

“There are a whole number of things that go into development of your career, which includes being published and getting grants, but one of the most basic things is being able to have your space and vent your creativity,” Summers said.

Larry Cohen, chairman of the biology department, agreed.

“Until we have research space that we can offer faculty, it’s a real career hardship for them to be able to operate here,” Cohen said.

Cal State San Marcos does have plans to move into temporary laboratory facilities in the fall, but they are so cramped that even with Summers’ departure there is not enough space for an additional faculty member, said Victor Rocha, dean of the college of arts and sciences.

“That facility probably is not state of the art, but it certainly could provide a reasonable environment to pursue some level of creative activity,” Rocha said.

But Cohen said the facility is not large enough to do research in “unless we try to dodge in and out of the student teaching laboratory when the students are not there, which is very hard to do.”

“We may be able to do a very little bit of research there, but it’s not set up for that,” Cohen said.

At this time of financial crisis for the state, Cohen said, it is up to the people in North County to come through.

“When the university was founded, I understood that there were a number of people in the community who felt that it was important for the university to have a strong component in the sciences,” he said.

“Now that the state is in as much difficulty as it is budget-wise, this would be the time for some of those folks who can afford to do so to come forth with help,” Cohen said.

Summers said California will sooner or later have to deal with funding education.

“The University of South Dakota has laboratory facilities and they are very nice. It isn’t a wealthy state, but as compared to California, they are on the upswing of funding education,” he said.

“It’s not like I’m saying California is a bad state, but the difference is that the voters right now are having to grapple with the notion of keeping that tradition of embracing education,” Summers said.