NORTHRIDGE : CSUN to Build House for Incoming President

The Cal State Northridge Foundation plans to borrow money to build a house on campus for the school’s new president, the chancellor of the state university system said Friday.

In a controversial move, outgoing CSUN President James W. Cleary had ordered trustees of the school’s foundation to keep secret the results of a vote they took Thursday on a house for incoming President Blenda J. Wilson.

“They are planning to use university land to build a residence for the campus president,” Chancellor Barry Munitz, who is not bound by Cleary’s directives, told a Times reporter. “They will use some kind of long-term financing, with the foundation having the yearly debt obligations.”

Munitz said that the promise of housing was a key element in luring Wilson from her position as chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn. He said that he did not know how much the foundation is planning to spend. Wilson is scheduled to take office Sept. 1.