CSU to Seek Ft. Ord Land for 21st Campus : Education: System’s trustees authorize talks with federal government to request donation of property. Base will close by 1997.

The California State University system’s Board of Trustees on Wednesday authorized talks with the federal government to obtain a large chunk of land for a possible new campus at Ft. Ord, the military base in Monterey County that is being closed in a few years.

Trustees hope that Washington will give the university system about 2,000 of the fort’s 28,000 acres for a school that might focus on environmental and biological sciences because of its location near the ocean. Such a campus, which at first would be affiliated with San Jose State, could enroll 25,000 students within 20 years, officials said.

Cal State system Chancellor Barry Munitz acknowledged that it might seem odd to think about expansion when the 20 Cal Sate campuses are slashing enrollment and faculty because of the state fiscal crisis. But Munitz said it is important to plan for better days and stressed that “we are not putting any of our current money into this.”

The Army has until 1997 to close Ft. Ord, but most troops will be gone within two years. Under federal base-closing laws, preference must be given to educational uses of the land. Other proposals call for converting parts of the base into an airport, a state park, an industrial and research complex, and housing for migrant workers.

San Jose State has a satellite classroom center in Salinas, not far from the fort. That center could move into some of the fort’s many buildings after a $100-million renovation that Cal State officials hope the federal government will fund. The cost of developing a large residential community of students and scholars has not been determined.

Also attractive to educators is the proximity of the Defense Department’s Language Institute and national research centers in oceanography and weather in the Monterey area.

Meanwhile, about 60 faculty and students from San Diego State brought their dispute with campus President Thomas Day to the trustees. The campus’ Faculty Senate voted “no confidence” in Day recently, calling his money-saving plan to close nine departments and lay off faculty overly harsh.

Professor Dan Whitney, chairman of the anthropology department, one of those slated to be closed, urged trustees to force Day into retirement because “he’s failed us as a leader.” Day sat through the denunciations without comment. After the meeting, trustees Chairman Anthony M. Vitti said there “was not any sentiment” on the board to remove Day.