Dreams Realized as Chapman Expands

Standing beneath a 60-foot light tower at the entrance to Chapman University’s new religious center, President James L. Doti welcomed a steady stream of school trustees, graduates and students for Saturday’s opening ceremonies.

Doti smiled broadly, equally thrilled and relieved that, after several years and more than a few headaches, this day had finally arrived.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am,” Doti said before addressing several hundred guests. “This has been a long, long haul, and it’s the culmination of many dreams.”

But he would have to mete out his exuberance over a long day. Besides opening the religious center, Doti still had to cut ribbons in front of a new library and music center.

The three buildings unveiled by Chapman on Saturday, after more than a year of fast-paced construction that cost more than $52 million, are the centerpieces of an overhaul of a campus nestled in Old Towne Orange. But while university officials beamed, the face-lift has left at least a few neighbors wondering when the expansion will stop.

The $25-million, 100,000-square-foot Leatherby Libraries is the largest of the three buildings that officially opened Saturday, although students have been using it since classes began in August. Named after one of Orange County’s leading philanthropic families, the brick-and-glass structure houses nine libraries for various disciplines as well as several classrooms, multimedia rooms and a large computer lab -- a far cry from the 37-year-old building it replaces that is a quarter of its size.

After the library ceremonies, Doti walked across the campus quad to open the doors to the 24,000-square-foot Oliphant Hall. Along with an existing building, it will be the new home of the School of Music, its three choirs and two symphony orchestras. Toni Knott Oliphant, who, along with her husband, made a large contribution to the project, belongs to the family that founded Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

Doti was also enthusiastic at the opening of Merle and Marjorie Fish Interfaith Center. As home to 12 student groups that represent nine religions, the high-ceilinged, sunlit building and its gardens are expected to become the focal point of a school affiliated with Disciples of Christ, a Protestant group.

“So often you have Christians supporting Christians, Jews supporting Jews, Muslims helping other Muslims,” Doti said. “But it is rare that people come together to support an interfaith center like this.... It is an architectural gem, but ... more than that, the building will allow for another type of inspiration so we might better understand each other.”

Finishing the 18,000-square-foot center did not come easily. University and city officials rejected early designs as too expensive and out of sync with historic Old Towne’s neoclassical style. Moreover, accommodating different religions in the same room was a challenge, Doti said -- resolved by using portable religious symbols. And at $10 million, the center cost $4 million more than expected.

The buildings are the latest push by Chapman to redefine itself. In the 1970s and 1980s, it teetered on collapse, struggling to manage debts by admitting any tuition-paying student.

Under Doti, Chapman grew into a university with accredited law and business programs and a respected film school. Today, more than 5,000 graduate and undergraduate students are enrolled.

Chapman’s growth, however, has not come without pain. The university abandoned plans in March to merge with Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona when the schools could not resolve differences over power sharing.

And while the university celebrated Saturday, some neighbors expressed frustration at what they say are the downsides to Chapman’s growth. From her house on Sycamore Avenue, Judy Dodson looks out onto Chapman’s law school and a campus parking structure.

Since she moved in seven years ago, traffic has increased and the area has lost some of its tranquillity, she said. The university’s plans to expand onto Sycamore and beyond, she and other residents said, have them nervous.

“We’d like to keep this a quiet little town. But Chapman is just taking over.”