Chancellor Says CSSM Could Close : Education: Head of state university system warns that the new Cal State San Marcos campus is “in jeopardy” because of looming budget cuts.

The infant Cal State San Marcos campus is “in jeopardy” of being closed because of the state budget crisis, Chancellor Barry Munitz of the California State University warned Tuesday in a speech here.

Munitz, who took over the 361,000-student system last summer, told members of the Comstock Club that “campuses will be closed” under the budgets now being discussed by the Legislature and the Wilson Administration.

Although he didn’t identify in his speech which campuses might be shut, he told reporters afterward that the 2-year-old San Marcos campus is “in jeopardy” because of budget cuts and heavy dependence on the $900-million higher education bond issue that will be on the June ballot.

News of Munitz’s remarks stunned Cal State San Marcos President Bill Stacy, who said he had been given constant reassurances--as recently as Monday--from Munitz that the campus’ continued development was high priority.

Later Tuesday, Stacy said he talked to Munitz about his comments and it was now his understanding that, at worst, his campus was simply in jeopardy of stalled construction and expansion if the $900 million bond issue, Proposition 153, is rejected by voters.

“He said he didn’t mean we’d have to close the campus, but that, without the bond issue, there would be no second-phase (expansion) for two years,” Stacy said after talking to Munitz.

Munitz could not be reached later Tuesday for clarification.

The notion that the state would shut down the fledgling campus, which North County politicians and business leaders fought hard to win for the region, is difficult to comprehend, Stacy said.

“He (Munitz) has not communicated to me about closing a campus,” Stacy said. “Someone, I think, is in jeopardy, but there’s no hint it would be San Marcos.”

Stacy noted the state already has spent $100 million in developing the campus, the 20th and newest state university, “and I don’t think we’d want to throw away $100 million to save the $22 million which is our operations budget.

Cal State San Marcos has 1,300 students and will move to its permanent campus this fall as it starts its third year, when enrollment is projected to double.

Stacy said eliminating San Marcos’ $22-million operating budget for next year would have little effect on the $1.6 billion CSU budget.

“The chancellor has, on every occasion, repeated how important this campus is and how much it has to develop more quickly than not,” Stacy said. “He says for us to keep recruiting the 40 extra faculty members we need. He has not communicated to me any sense of being in jeopardy or in trouble. I understand the terrible budget squeeze we’re in and that, at some point, something has to give, but there’s been no indication that it’s us.”

In his speech and in his comments afterward to reporters, Munitz said there is no way all 20 CSU campuses can operate next year if the system’s budget is cut 10% or more, as is indicated by current discussions in the state Assembly and Senate, and within the Administration.

Munitz said he will meet with the 20 campus presidents early next month to discuss the cuts that must be made to match whatever the final budget appropriation turns out to be.

If CSU receives the $1.66 billion recommended for 1992-93 in Gov. Wilson’s proposed budget, “we can get by, and we can begin to restore some of the cuts” that have been made in recent years, Munitz said.

But he also said, “there’s almost no chance we’ll get that.”

With revenue continuing to fall behind projections, an across-the-board cut of at least 10% in all state services that are not protected by constitutional guarantees seems likely, Administration sources have said.

Munitz said a 5% budget cut would force the Cal State system to limit enrollment, even if student fees are increased 40% as the system’s Board of Trustees has requested.

“I would interpret a 5% revenue reduction to mean that the state wants us to cut people, no matter what level of student fees is approved” the chancellor said.

The sharper the budget cut, the more access would have to be limited, he said. If the reduction is around 10%, Munitz said, he would recommend that the trustees close one or two campuses. If the cut is as high as 18%, which is possible under the version of the budget approved by the Assembly, more campuses would have to be shuttered, he said.

Sen. William A. Craven (R-Oceanside), whose years-long efforts in Sacramento helped give birth to the San Marcos campus, downplayed Munitz’s statements as part of the gloom-and-doom talk that is expected around Sacramento during a tough budget year.

Craven said he doesn’t believe his legislative colleagues or Gov. Wilson will allow the campus to be closed.

Just last week, he noted, a Senate appropriations subcommittee approved plans to use nearly $8.6 million from a proposed higher education bond package on the June ballot to build infrastructure, finish three buildings and begin planning for even more classrooms on the new campus, once a chicken farm on Twin Oaks Valley Road south of California 78.

Most of that money--$6.4 million--will be used to build two academic complexes, as well as a six-story administrative building named after the Oceanside senator. Another $1.6 million will be set aside to planning even more classrooms and labs, with an additional $575,000 to be used for infrastructures such as streets and utilities.

“I understand his comments (but) they’re a little on the fright side,” Craven said. “He’s certainly entitled to his opinion, but I respectfully disagree.

“I appreciate his warning and certainly take heed, but I have a feeling that he’s in effect made a veiled threat against the Legislature that ‘You cannot cut our budget.’ ”

But, even short of outright closure, there are already signs that the San Marcos school will suffer under the budget ax. While Stacy’s staff has sought a $22 million budget for the 1992-93 year, Munitz’s office has told administrators to prepare a “working budget” of only $17.7 million.

“I’ve already written (Munitz) a note saying $17.7 million wouldn’t give us a viable campus, and we need to get closer to $22 million,” Stacy said.

Janie Phillips, vice chairman of Cal State San Marcos’ University Council, said the campus’ closing “would be a devastating loss for northern San Diego County.”

“The community has fought long and hard for a campus in North County because the need is there, and I can assure you the community is going to do whatever is necessary to make sure the building of this campus continues.

“Since this is the smallest campus and has the largest construction budget, (closing it) probably would be an option that (Munitz) would have to look at. But I don’t think he understands that we won’t stand by and let it be cut.”

She said she would, for now, take Munitz’s remarks seriously. “When the chancellor speaks, he is sending an honest message that we can’t take lightly,” she said.

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, said campus closings might be necessary “if no administrative fat was cut out of the budget and if the governor and the Legislature don’t cut tax loopholes.”

“I’d rather cut tax loopholes than cut classrooms,” said Hayden, who claimed $250 million in additional revenue could be realized by eliminating state tax deductions for business meals, country club dues and tickets to sports events.

In his speech, Munitz declared that the state’s 32-year-old Master Plan for Higher Education to be “dead . . . or at least dying,” because state financial support for CSU and the University of California no longer is enough for swelling enrollments.

He called for a one-year moratorium on spending cuts and other actions while the assumptions of the Master Plan, which guarantees a place in a public higher education institution for all qualified Californians, are restudied.

Munitz said that, by not providing adequate financial support for higher education, “the state is in the process of putting at risk . . . the traditional ticket to the American dream and is also jeopardizing California’s ability to remain competitive in the world.”

Warren Fox, director of the Postsecondary Education Commission, which advises the governor and the Legislature on higher education policy, agreed that Cal State “finds itself in a very difficult position” because it receives no constitutionally guaranteed Proposition 98 money, as the community colleges do, nor does it have the financial independence that the state constitution grants to UC.