Good-Neighbor Policy Charts a Rational Course for CSU

What on earth is Cal State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed up to? A few months ago, he began to sweep remedial students out of the shop, followed by promises of better treatment for students transferring in from neighboring community colleges. Just a few weeks ago, he announced a preferential admissions plan for seniors graduating from high schools in the immediate vicinity of each CSU. In a system that has long emphasized research, this new down-to-earth “good neighbor” policy must come as a shock, even to veteran chancellor-watchers.

Reed’s policy makes sense, though, when we look at local telephone books. The northwestern-area Los Angeles phone book, for example, puts Cal State Northridge on a map comprising 200 square miles (20 times 10). More than half of CSUN’s students currently live in this area, along with another 30% who commute from nearby. And they nearly all stay on and get jobs in the local economy as part of a cradle-to-the-workplace educational system set forth in the Yellow Pages under “schools and colleges.”

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Each CSU is at the center of its local system, very much like a mother ship flanked by one or more community colleges. But so are other vessels, public and private, in the flotilla: tech schools, primary and secondary schools, tutoring services, rehabilitation services, etc. And in spite of bureaucratic rivalries and obstacles, there’s plenty of movement from one vessel to another, nearly all of it showing up on each student’s cumulative academic record and job record.

By way of illustration: Some years back, I checked the transcript of a U.S. Senate hearing that confirmed the appointment of a CSUN graduate to a high government post, and it was all there: Reseda High School, CSUN, UCLA; also, an eight-year employment record as a checker at Ralphs markets.

Educational and employment mobility--this is what Americans need; and this is what CSUs are superbly equipped to offer as “regional universities” (their category in the U.S. News & World Report surveys).

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Reed can count on lots of support from the economies and educational partners his individual CSUs serve. But he’s bound to face opposition, some of it under the table, from CSU faculty and administrators whose concerns, especially research, are far more national than local. As the Economist recently pointed out, for example, L.A.’s mayor, Richard Riordan, has had very little help from the universities in his neighborhood, including CSUN, which some years back jettisoned its regional label as San Fernando Valley State.

By way of another illustration: I was a guest not long ago at a liaison meeting between representatives of a CSU academic department and those from opposite-number academic departments in six satellite community colleges. Even though this was the first such liason meeting in 23 years, all but one of the CSU representatives got up and left immediately after lunch, pleading urgent duties elsewhere.

What a slap in the face for the community college folks, some of whom drove more than 30 miles in hopes of a productive conference! And what an indication that Reed’s good-neighbor policy is long overdue.

As Cardinal Newman put it, “A university does not intellectualize the neighborhood.” Given the size of the CSU system and the pervasiveness of academic snobbery, Chancellor Reed cannot expect his vision for our future to carry the field right away. But the facts are on his side, and so are his larger constituencies: students, families, employers, local educators, community leaders, legislators, etc.

National or local--this is the identity issue that our CSUs face today. Let’s hope Reed’s good-neighbor policy takes hold. It’s what California needs, the sooner the better.