The University of Higher Tremors : California State University coped with statewide standards and limited resources

How much earthquake protection is enough for the California State University system? How much can the state afford to provide? What is a reasonable expectation for protecting the public safety even if it means sustaining heavy property damage?

Somewhere among (1) the incredible competing pressures on higher education brought on by California’s ongoing state of fiscal crisis, (2) the earthquake safety standards imposed by state law and (3) the whims of Mother Nature lies the art of the possible for campuses in earthquake-prone Southern California.

When the earth moves, all bets are off and we find out not only whether what we have in place is a good plan but whether it is a good enough one. Such is the mighty power of an earthquake; it is not only an equalizer in its infliction of damage on one and all, it is a leveler of expectations.

We learn, as in the case of the campus of Cal State Northridge, not so much what we would like by way of protection but what we can get away with in view of the competing demands on the public coffers.

Last month’s earthquake clarified things in precisely that way. It was terrible that a parking lot crumpled, that a complex of faculty offices and classrooms and much more were so damaged and that fires broke out in science buildings. Campus life will not be quite the same; people no doubt are going to have a very uncomfortable time living through the aftermath. The estimate of damage has climbed into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

But considering the proximity of the earthquake, things might have been much worse, with extensive injuries and deaths. In that sense, the strategy of the Cal State system to minimize and control damage could be judged something of a success, considering after all that the CSUN campus virtually took a direct hit.

The Cal State system is not subject to the same state provisions as kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools under state law, but it is fully responsible for meeting earthquake safety standards under the California administrative code, and it complies with any additions to the state Uniform Building Code on seismic safety. It is hard to fault the system for resistance; the problem is money. Past reviews have shown that at Cal State Fullerton, for example, several key buildings awaiting reinforcement are determined to be “poor” or “very poor” risks for earthquake damage.

Life now will resume at the damaged CSUN campus and go on at the other nerve-rattled Cal State campuses in this area. The disaster has shown how much work remains to be done. It is an indication, too, that however serious the damage is, it is no small thing for a university community to be able to pick up the pieces and carry on.