Dropping of New Major Annoys Cal State Students

In a setback to efforts to expand academic programs, university officials have eliminated a new communications major at Ventura County’s budding Cal State campus, a move that has angered a small but vocal group of students intent on pursuing such a degree.

Communications students at the satellite campus of Cal State Northridge were told in September that low enrollment had forced cancellation of the new program. The major was one of two degrees launched this fall in an effort to draw more students to the off-campus center as it evolves into the autonomous Cal State University Channel Islands.

Despite pleas to reconsider, officials said the only way they could have gone forward was if at least 25 students signed up by the start of the school year.

Only about 10 students enrolled in the two-year program, which offered a range of courses in journalism, television and film.

If those students want to stay at CSUN, they will now have to commute to the main campus in Northridge to complete their degrees or choose new majors offered entirely at the satellite campus.

Those choices are particularly galling to students who decided to attend the satellite mainly because it is close to home and offered the communications curriculum.

Moreover, they wonder what this says about the ability of CSUN’s local campus to meet the educational needs of future students, a key concern as the satellite center attempts to expand course offerings to aid in its transformation into a free-standing, degree-granting institution.

“I don’t think they really gave it a chance,” said Thousand Oaks resident Angela Santa Cruz, 22, one of several communications students who fired off a protest letter to campus administrators.

“It goes against everything they have been saying--that they want to increase enrollment and make this into a full-fledged university,” she said. “You don’t do that by dropping programs.”

Campus director Steve Lefevre said he feels bad for the students.

But he said he doesn’t believe the low enrollment for the communications major is indicative of a lack of interest in new degree programs at the satellite campus or a lack of enthusiasm for efforts to transform the off-campus center into a full-fledged university.

Lefevre said at least 20 students signed up for the other degree program launched this fall: political science. And he said a record 1,740 students are attending the off-campus center this semester--evidence, he believes, of the excitement surrounding creation of the state college campus.

But he said the satellite campus could not afford to underwrite the cost of an undersubscribed major. Doing so, he said, would have meant that other courses--those in greater demand--could not have been offered during the next two years.

“I understand and can appreciate their disappointment, but like so many things, it came down to a budget issue,” said Lefevre, who had proposed the communications major based on a number of public inquiries.

“Maybe this particular degree is not the specific one students wanted,” he added. “I think we’ve learned a lesson here: When we start a program, we really need to be as visible as we can in our advertising to make sure we give it as much of a chance as possible.”

Lefevre said the setback hasn’t deterred efforts to expand academic programs at the satellite campus. This spring, the campus plans to offer two new credential programs: marriage and family counseling and a single-subject credential that is required to teach high school.

But he said it is becoming increasingly clear that planners at the developing Cal State Channel Islands campus might have to step up efforts to launch their own degree programs as a way of ensuring that the educational needs of local students continue to be met.

Barbara Thorpe, chief academic planner at the four-year campus under development at the site of the former Camarillo State Hospital, said the university is still years away from offering its own programs. The facility is expected to evolve into the autonomous Cal State Channel Islands university in fall 2002.

Thorpe said Channel Islands is eagerly awaiting its first academic support budget, likely to come next summer when state lawmakers are expected to earmark $10 million for the school. But until the university starts offering its own classes, all curriculum decisions rest with CSUN.

“Of course we want them to succeed, but we can’t be contributing our resources to their curriculum,” Thorpe said. “We are not the content purveyors. We are not the credit-granting institution. We are not yet a fully established campus, so as much as we would like to help we are not in a position to do so.”

Those words are of little comfort to students now left deciding what to do next.

Camarillo resident Deborah Way was excited about being one of the first students at the new campus, a decision she based on its proximity to her home and her desire to study communications. But less than two weeks into the school year, she received a letter telling her that the degree had been discontinued.

“It was disappointing, frustrating and confusing,” she said. “It just didn’t make sense. Why would they drop it so soon?”

Like all the other communications students, Way believes the program would have taken off if given the chance. And like many others, she now finds herself weighing a commute to CSUN’s main campus versus transferring to another university.

“This was great. It was at a beautiful campus, fairly close to my home and reasonably priced,” said Way, 44, a single parent who returned to college after raising her now 26-year-old son.

“It seemed like the timing was right, like the planets were all aligned,” she said. “It’s a real shame. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out there’s a fly in the ointment.”