Ventura CSUN to Stay Open : Education: Officials deny a rumor that the campus will close because of the state budget crisis. After cost-cutting measures are discussed, they promise ‘we will not pull out.’

A flyer posted in the hallway at Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus tells the story.

“Contrary to any rumors you may have heard, the Ventura campus will continue to remain open and growing for the fall 1992 semester despite the state budget crisis.”

Indeed, rumors ran rampant on the 1,200-student campus in recent weeks during preparation for final exams. There was even talk that the extension campus, hit by an 8.5% budget cut this year, might be shut down.

As it turned out, emergency budget meetings were called and all possible cost-cutting measures discussed, including closure, said campus Director Joyce M. Kennedy. But in the end Cal State Northridge officials decided that the campus was much too valuable to lose.

“I will say flatly that we will not pull out,” said Don Bianchi, vice president of academic affairs for CSUN. “Our long-range view of the campus out there is that it will continue to grow.”

Although she welcomes the news and the strong support expressed for the campus by her administrative colleagues, Kennedy worries about the future. There will still be cuts in staff, student services and classes.

“We have faced major crisis before,” Kennedy said. “But I think this year is the most painful we’ve faced. I say that because of the prospect of possible staff layoffs and faculty layoffs.”

Exactly what positions and classes may be eliminated is still not clear as the campus struggles with a possible cut next year of 11.5% out of its $1-million operating budget. But if the campus cuts even 10 of the 100 classes now offered, it will have a significant impact, Kennedy said.

“It will be the first year our enrollment will have gone down,” said Kennedy, who has served as director of the Ventura campus over its entire 18-year history.

“It’s like a great ship going along and all of a sudden you hit an iceberg,” she said.

The extension campus, which occupies the second floor of a three-story office building on Alessandro Drive, opened its doors in the fall of 1974. Until 1988 the campus was jointly operated by UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge.

Since its inception, the Ventura campus has gone from an enrollment of less than 100 students to 1,200, Kennedy said. The campus, which rents out additional space for classes from the Ventura Unified School District, offers upper-division courses in a few selected majors, primarily focusing on education and business. The average student age is 34, and 78% of those enrolled are women.

Patricia Hill, president of the Student Assn., said if it wasn’t for the Ventura campus she would not have been able to finish her college education. Hill, who expects to graduate next spring with a degree in child development, transferred to the campus from Oxnard College in the spring of 1990.

“There’s no way I could have gone all the way to the Valley to the main campus,” said Hill, a 38-year-old single parent. “My transportation is not adequate.”

Because of the convenient location of the campus, Hill said she was able to get off welfare and get a job as director of child development services at Ventura County Medical Center while pursuing her degree at night.

“I know firsthand that a great deal of women have the same dreams,” she said. “If this campus goes, the realization of completing their higher education goals. . . . They won’t be able to.”

Anne Thille, a 22-year-old student from Santa Paula, said the campus’ proximity and affordability made it possible for her to get her teaching credential.

“The closest four-year university is Cal Lutheran,” Thille said. “I can’t afford that.”

Even if she had the opportunity to attend the main campus in Northridge, Thille said she would still have preferred to remain at the Ventura facility. She said the smaller classes and close-knit environment of the Ventura campus are what appeal to her most.

Thille, who is eight months pregnant, said she appreciates the maturity and motivation of the older students, many of whom work full time and are parents.

“People here are really serious about getting an education,” she said. “Everybody puts 100% into their work.”

Kenneth Greenspan, who is in Cal State Northridge’s 1992 graduating class, is an example of the caliber of students who have attended the Ventura campus.

A liberal studies major, Greenspan was chosen out of his entire 6,500-member CSUN graduating class to receive the Wolfson Scholarship Award, the highest academic award given by the university.

“I’m glad people at the main campus know that somebody from Ventura won the award,” said Greenspan, 32. “It helps say, ‘Yes, we are good students at the Ventura campus.’ And that this is a real university.”

The Thousand Oaks resident said he put himself through school working in the construction business. He said he transferred to the Ventura campus from Moorpark College in 1990.

Although he took a few summer classes at the Northridge campus, the bulk of his advanced courses were taken at Ventura, he said.

Greenspan said that because many of the teachers are from the main campus, there is no difference in the quality of education at the extension campus, only in the atmosphere.

“It’s a real small, personal atmosphere,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody. And the people are there because they want to be.”

Still, Greenspan agrees with Kennedy that Ventura County is long overdue for a four-year state university.

After a five-year search for a suitable site for a campus, Cal State officials in September chose a 140-acre lemon grove just west of Camarillo. But a dispute with one of the two landowners over the price of his property has delayed plans for opening the campus until 1996, a year later than expected.

Officials say that because of future state funding problems, the actual building of the new campus may be delayed indefinitely.

Despite all the obstacles, Cal State officials said they remain committed to building a four-year institution in the county.

“The whole Ventura area, we are well aware, is growing by leaps and bounds, especially in the younger population,” Bianchi said. “So the future needs for higher education are going to be great, and we have to be there to meet those needs.”

Meanwhile, students at the Cal State Ventura campus are planning a rally Thursday to show that they support keeping the university open, said Lesley Tibbits, a graduate student and one of the organizers of the rally.

“Next year I’ll be graduating,” said Tibbits, 38. “But I’m concerned about the people who will come after us.”

Hill, another rally organizer, agreed.

“I’ve been fighting a long time to get my education,” she said. “We just want to show the administration we care.”

It is this kind of support, Kennedy said, that assures her that the campus will overcome whatever challenges lie ahead.

“We dodged bullets before,” she said. “We were blue-penciled the second year of our existence. We hope that bodes well for us. We think it says something about our perseverance.”