Necessary Campus Innovations

Two local schools took strong steps last week toward finding innovative ways to fill holes in their budgets. Both Cal State Northridge and Pierce College advanced plans to turn campus land into profit-making property. Neither proposal is without dispute. But both are necessary to ensure that students continue to get top-quality education from two of the San Fernando Valley’s most important institutions.

At CSUN, plans to bring biomedical research firms to North Campus won unanimous support from the California State University Board of Trustees. The project promises to generate as much as $2 million to $3 million each year for the school and to offer jobs and internships to students. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement: CSUN gets cash and prestige and the private companies get access to bright students.

At Pierce, a plan to develop part of the school’s farm as a golf course has less direct academic benefit but could provide the school $250,000 to $1.2 million in extra cash each year. The trade-off: A golf course might cut into farm operations or kill the agriculture program altogether. Despite those risks, an advisory committee decided to continue studying the proposal. That’s a good idea. Already, Pierce administrators have said they may have to sell off property to make up budget deficits. A golf course makes more sense in Pierce’s residential neighborhood than a jumble of fast-food joints or discount stores.

The bottom line is something public schools like CSUN and Pierce must constantly watch. Finding new ways to exploit profitable campus resources without gutting academic integrity takes diligence and determination. But CSUN and Pierce are on the right track.