University Plan Needs More Political and Fiscal Support

Like a football powerhouse racking up early victories on its drive to the Rose Bowl, Ventura County’s first full-service state university is beginning to build momentum.

But more political clout and financial support will be necessary to put this much-needed facility over the goal line. Progress being made on the academic side must be matched by a workable business plan to pay for it.

This week, Cal State University Channel Islands will move a step closer to reality when trustees of the Ventura County Community College District consider a resolution to endorse an innovative partnership between the county’s three well-established two-year schools and their new big sister.

“We’re talking about something that hasn’t happened before,” said Community College Chancellor Philip Westin, “a different model for the whole state to look at in terms of both serving students and serving taxpayers.”

Among areas of cooperation being discussed:

* Easing students’ transitions from community college to upper level by arranging “seamless” transfer of credits.

* Using the community colleges as a primary provider of freshman- and sophomore-level programs.

* Letting the community colleges offer the remedial classes needed by many students before they can move on to greater academic challenges.

* Dovetailing technology so students on one campus could take courses offered on another.

This is just one of several partnerships the new university is exploring with education and business leaders, according to CSU Channel Islands President J. Handel Evans.

But some of those will need to bring in cash to narrow the gap between what the university will cost and what the state is willing to pay. At a meeting last week, Cal State trustees warned that this factor is crucial to the fate of CSU Channel Islands.

If the university occupies the vast campus of the former Camarillo State Hospital, as expected, Evans envisions the site as a whole educational complex with an array of public-private partnerships.

“The more we partner, the more this university becomes a reality,” Evans said.

This sort of creative cooperation will go a long way toward bringing Ventura County the state university that it has long needed.