Northridge : CSUN’s Wilson Greets Students at Picnic

As her students snacked on a free lunch of hot dogs, burgers and potato chips Tuesday, Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson made her way across the quake-battered campus with a simple message for the picnicking pupils: Welcome back.

“I wanted to convey to students that we’re glad they’re here,” she said of the third annual “President’s Welcome Back Picnic.”

“It gives the staff and faculty an opportunity to see the students,” said Tom Lawrence, a staff member with CSUN’s Center for Disabilities who spent an hour spooning baked beans onto waiting plates.

Despite the sweltering heat, Wilson strolled the lawn in front of the Oviatt Library, introducing herself to the clusters of mostly twentysomethings.

“It’s the one way for me to have a personal handshake with students before commencement,” she explained, “and I love it.”

For classmates Amber Brown and Seta Alexander, it was a chance to build a friendship that had begun that morning in a shared dietetics course.

A former Moorpark College student in her first semester at CSUN, Brown, 20, said the picnic demonstrated that the campus is friendlier than its reputation.

“I think it’s cool,” she said.