CSUN Leader Hopes to Tap New Funds : Education: In her first local public appearance since taking the job, the new president says she will seek help from business, elected officials and alumni.

With show-biz flair, new Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson stepped from behind a red velvet curtain onto the stage of the school theater Thursday and was greeted by applause from more than 300 students and faculty members.

The 51-year-old Wilson, who is the school’s third president and its first woman leader, gave few details of her plans for the Northridge campus at her first local public appearance since taking the school’s top job.

But Wilson made clear her goal: “Cal State Northridge has the capacity to be the flagship” of the 20-campus Cal State University system.

And to pay for it all, the former chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn said she will solicit the interest--and money--of local business leaders, elected officials and alumni.

“We cannot continue to advance our institution without resources,” said Wilson during the hourlong question-and-answer session with student reporters.

Professional media were not allowed to ask questions under the rules she established for the news conference.

Wilson, who has served as an academic administrator at Harvard University and for the past four years as chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn, said she was successful at raising private funds in the past.

A similar effort is needed to supplement the CSUN budget, now that cuts in state support have made getting classes difficult and have delayed graduation for thousands of students. CSUN officials last week said state budget cuts prompted the cancellation of 843 of the 5,127 classes scheduled for fall.

Wilson defended the purchase of a $465,000 home for her and her husband, as well as a new $25,555 car, while the school was being forced to cancel classes and lay off part-time instructors.

Wilson, who will be paid $134,800 a year, said such perquisites are routine at other schools similar in size to CSUN, which has 28,000 students.

“If the president’s home was not bought, people assume the money would have gone to provide more classes,” Wilson said. “But it probably would not have.”

The decision to purchase the president’s Northridge house was made by the CSUN Foundation, a nonprofit organization that makes its money from sales at campus stores, restaurant franchises and other investments. The purchase was announced by foundation officials after escrow closed last month.

The president’s car was bought with state funds, CSUN spokeswoman Kaine Thompson said.

The house is necessary, Wilson said, because fund raising will require social events there to lure potential donors. “It is work, but to look at it from the outside, it looks like a party,” she said.

Wilson also pledged to look at the school’s academic advising system, which students have criticized as inefficient. In addition, Wilson said she would look at the shortage of general education classes required for graduation.

CSUN students routinely complain more about those two subjects than any other. Graduation is delayed for nearly one-third of CSUN students because of those problems, according to the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges in its February, 1991, accreditation report.

Wilson said she plans to publicize CSUN to residents of the San Fernando Valley, and persuade prospective students to enroll “even if it takes six years instead of five years” to graduate.

“Education is about the only means to achieve goals” for most people, she said.

Wilson received a standing ovation following the news conference.

“She is dynamic,” said Darius Riggins, 22, a junior civil engineering major. “After this, my respect for her has gone up to the highest level.”

Student radio reporter Lisa Sutherland, though impressed with Wilson, remained somewhat skeptical.

“Her answers were often political-speak, a lot of rhetoric and vague terms,” said Sutherland, 22, a broadcast major. “But a lot, I’m sure, was because she is still not familiar with the campus.”