Wilson Sworn In as CSUN President in Milestone Event : Inauguration: The only African-American woman to head a major university is honored.

Blenda J. Wilson--who as a child would cry if she missed a day of school--was inaugurated Friday as the third president of Cal State Northridge, becoming the nation’s only African-American woman to head a major university in a career she began 31 years ago as a grade school reading teacher.

Wilson was given a gold medallion and silver mace--symbols of the office--by California State University Chancellor Barry Munitz in an hourlong ceremony before 2,000 faculty members, students and campus visitors.

The inauguration came eight months after Wilson took over the Northridge campus, which like its sisters in the 20-campus California State University system, faces difficult times ahead as state revenues for higher education continue declining.

Wilson in her inauguration speech--titled “If We Believe in Ourselves”--recapped the financial and social problems facing the school, saying she is confident they can be overcome using the “strengths of technology” combined with the traditional work of teachers and scholars.

“Particularly as the groups we refer to as ‘minorities’ become the majority population in California, we cannot afford to waste their economic, cultural and social contributions through the failure of our schools or our universities to teach effectively,” Wilson said.

CSUN’s Anglo student population, for years the overwhelming majority of the 29,000 enrollment, is expected to shrink below 50% in the next year or two. The shift mirrors similar but more dramatic changes in student enrollment at city schools in the San Fernando Valley during the past decade.

“Dr. Wilson has been my role model this year. A minority woman knows how to work with people and get things done,” said Eagle Desert Moon, a 49-year-old CSUN graduate student who is part Sioux Indian. “When I was last in school, in 1970, one professor criticized me for taking up space in a pre-med class that ought to go to a man. And now, there is a female college president. A lot has changed.”

Wilson, a 52-year-old New Jersey native, in her speech delivered the same message she has carried to faculty and community groups during the past several months: The campus must become more efficient, producing better prepared, more competitive students with less state money.

The talk has produced much anxiety on campus, especially among tenured- and tenure-track professors who fear losing their jobs, a prospect Wilson raised earlier this year.

As state revenues fall, school officials have had to lay off part-time instructors. This year, more than 1,000 scheduled classes were cut. At the same time, student fees went up 40%, will go up 37% next year and are expected to climb for two more years after that.

The fee increases and the school’s financial troubles caused some grumbling about Wilson having an inauguration, which is traditional at CSU campuses. It cost about $35,000 in campus funds.

“We felt we needed to establish her as our leader,” said CSUN spokeswoman Kaine Thompson. Still, there were some concessions to cost. Caterers after about eight minutes ran out of the finger sandwiches that were intended to serve 2,000 guests at a post-inaugural buffet. There was, however, plenty of coffee, lemonade and iced tea--200 gallons of each--as well as about 12,000 pieces of sliced fruit.

And to reduce expenses, the same potted plants used for the ceremony--impatiens, roses and wax leaf privet--will be used next month for graduation ceremonies. The 12-foot liquid amber trees and smaller white birch trees behind the stage will eventually be planted on campus, groundskeepers said.

There were no complaints voiced within earshot of Wilson’s parents, who traveled from New Jersey to see their daughter’s second inauguration. Wilson was chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn.

Her mother, Margaret Wilson, said she always knew there were great things in store for her daughter.

“She was different from her siblings,” she said. “They didn’t care if they never went to school. But she cried if she missed a day.”

Margaret Wilson said her daughter “wanted to be in everything at school, cheerleading, sports. Even before she started school she was trying to learn from her older sister.”

Wilson earned an English degree in 1962 at Cedar Crest College and was awarded a master’s degree in education from Seton Hall University three years later. She earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Boston College in 1979. She held administration jobs at Harvard and Rutgers universities.

In her speech, Wilson acknowledged her parents and her husband, Louis Fair Jr., as the “three essential people in my life.”

Afterward, Fair greeted VIP guests at the outdoor ceremony--including Los Angeles school board member Roberta Weintraub, City Councilwoman Joy Picus and retired CSUN President James W. Cleary. Fair described his role as first husband, joking, “I’m the shadow that shields her from the sun.”

The ceremony began with music by the CSUN Symphony Orchestra, which played the same movement from Handel’s “Water Music” more than a dozen times as hundreds of faculty members in academic gowns entered in a processional.

“It was too hot out there,” said clarinet player and CSUN student Mark Jacobs. He and other members of the orchestra got to rest under trees during the inaugural speeches.

The Northridge Singers performed “America the Beautiful,” the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” and two songs by Aaron Copland.

Although classes were canceled for the day, students of biology teacher Robin Lee still showed up for their anatomy lecture.

“It was optional, but almost everybody came,” said Roland Feghali, 23, a pre-dental student who lives in Northridge. “We’re reviewing for the test next week.”

While Wilson gave her speech, Feghali and some friends went outside to listen while studying the 10 muscles used for facial expressions.

“I thought there’d be more students here, but I guess they took advantage of the day off and went surfing,” Feghali said.

As a sign of goodwill, 10 fraternity members of Zeta Beta Tau joined the 100 student volunteers who directed visitors to the inauguration held on the lawn in front of the Oviatt Library.

Wilson had suspended the fraternity for more than a year for distributing party flyers she considered racially offensive. She reinstated the fraternity nine months early after members filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension on First Amendment grounds.

“We wanted to help out the university and clear our name a little,” said Jeff Baum, 18, a freshman from Woodland Hills.

After the inauguration, Wilson helped to dedicate the school’s Alumni Plaza. Appearing with her was former CSUN theater student Robert Englund, who achieved fame as the ghoulish movie character Freddie Krueger.

Later, Englund said he got the acting bug during a summer drama program sponsored by CSUN for teen-agers. He later attended as a student during the mid-1960s.

“At that time in the Valley you never stood in line for anything,” said Englund, who now lives in Laguna Beach. “Girls used to ride horses to school.”

Despite the changes at the school, Englund said he ran into the same trouble faced by many of today’s students.

“I never did graduate,” he said. “I still need to finish statistics and a structural grammar class.”