O’Connell Again Plans to Seek Funds for Campus

State Sen. Jack O’Connell said he plans early next month to reintroduce a $10-million budget request for Ventura County’s fledgling public university, confident that Cal State University officials will soon be able to eliminate problems that have stalled funding for the Camarillo campus.

O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) will ask his fellow senators--and ultimately Gov. Gray Davis--to set aside the money for Cal State University Channel Islands so that it can open on schedule in fall 2002.

Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said she plans in coming months to make the same request of her colleagues in the lower house.

Davis rejected a similar funding request earlier this year, saying CSU officials needed to make more progress on development of a campus in Stockton before he funneled any money to Channel Islands.

A CSU committee held a special meeting Friday to address Davis’ concerns, and both legislators say they believe that the governor will grant the allocation this time.

“By the time he updates his budget in May, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the $10 million included,” said O’Connell, who intends to insert the allocation in the Senate’s higher education budget in two weeks.

“The CSU has represented to me that the issues surrounding Stockton will be resolved,” O’Connell said. “I see this as one more step toward the continued development of a Cal State university in Ventura County.”

In unveiling his preliminary budget for fiscal year 2000-01, Davis said he wanted CSU officials to figure out what went wrong with efforts to establish a range of income-generating ventures aimed at offsetting operating costs for a branch campus of Cal State Stanislaus in Stockton.

While the governor said he was fully committed to providing additional funding for Cal State Channel Islands, he told CSU leaders that the Stockton situation must be resolved before handing over the money.

That move angered Ventura County leaders, who argued that the Channel Islands campus was being penalized for unrelated problems in Stockton.

Nevertheless, Cal State University officials have been studying the development issues at Stockton and trying to figure out ways to boost revenues for the center.

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Consultants conducting a feasibility study for the off-campus center said Friday that they are encouraged by the response from Stockton city leaders, school district officials and others interested in keeping the off-campus center afloat.

CSU trustees raised for the first time the prospect of turning the Stockton property--the site of a closed state mental hospital--back over to the state and leasing only what is necessary for educational purposes.

CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said the university system will not walk away from its commitment to provide a state college education to students in that area.

But he said all options--including returning the property to state control--must be investigated to decide the best course of action.

“I would think the governor would welcome that kind of real analysis,” said Reed, adding that he has been assured by members of the governor’s staff that the $10 million is being held in reserve for the Camarillo campus. “I think we’re doing what the governor asked for.”

Davis linked the campuses because of their similar development plans.

In both cases, CSU officials are converting shuttered mental hospitals into college campuses. Both are satellite campuses of Cal State universities. And both are counting on leasing unused buildings and launching commercial ventures to raise money for expansion.

But the similarities end there.

Stockton will remain a branch campus of Cal State Stanislaus, while the Camarillo site--which opened in the fall as a branch of Cal State Northridge--is expected to evolve into a full-fledged institution by fall 2002.

Moreover, the Stockton campus has made little headway on its plan for tapping private development, while the Camarillo campus has signed private tenants, drawn up a blueprint for development around the campus core and established a nonprofit agency responsible for luring commercial ventures to the 630-acre property.

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Channel Islands officials Friday stressed the progress they have made so far.

And they talked about the importance of the $10-million budget allocation, money needed to hire faculty to craft the academic programs necessary to open the campus in less than two years at the former Camarillo State Hospital.

With the CSU system working hard to address the governor’s concerns, Jackson said she will do everything she can to ensure that the Ventura County campus gets the money it deserves.

“I am very keenly aware of how important CSU Channel Islands is to the community and what a benefit it will be to the county as a whole,” said Jackson, a member of the Assembly’s subcommittee on higher education. “They’ve done everything that was expected of them, everything they committed to do, and I’m anxious to see them get up and running.”