CSUN Senate Approves Measure

Cal State Northridge’s student senate on Tuesday voted 14-0 to place a referendum on the ballot in the October campus elections, asking students to help finance new athletic facilities and a recreation center.

The referendum calls for a fee increase of $27 per student in 2000 and 2001, and $36 in 2002, with the money going toward the construction of a recreation center, an 8,000-seat multipurpose stadium and a 3,000-seat baseball stadium.

The fees would pay the interest on bonds used to finance the construction of the facilities, estimated at $10 million for the multipurpose arena, which is primarily intended for football and soccer, $3 million for the baseball stadium and $20 million for the recreation center.

“Obviously, those of us in athletics are naturally pleased,” said Dick Dull, Northridge’s athletic director. “This is phase one. The most difficult phase is educating the entire student body on this referendum.”

Dull was among about 100 people who attended the senate meeting, including Northridge coaches and athletes, students and supporters from the community.

Most of those who addressed the senate during a public forum before the vote supported the referendum, with a handful of dissenters voicing concern about an overemphasis on athletics.

“Take a good look at education instead of athletics,” said Lorenzo Valdez of the student senate. “This referendum is wonderful, but yet, education needs to be up there.”

In a move intended to help the measure pass, the senate amended the referendum, indicating that fee increases at Northridge’s satellite campus in Ventura will be used for projects at that site and not for the proposed athletic facilities.

In March, students at the Ventura campus helped defeat a measure that asked for a $75 fee increase over three years to finance the recreation center. About 20% of the Ventura student body, or about 387 students, voted while only 5%, or 1,262 students, voted at Northridge.

Brian Hubinger, a Northridge football player and senate member, said the Ventura students rejected the referendum largely because they would not benefit directly from the recreation center.

“They didn’t want to drive an hour, with no traffic, to use the facility,” Hubinger said. “That’s understandable.”