Party Guests Express Hope for Proposed University

CAMARILLO —  Carolyn Leavens was all smiles Sunday afternoon as she welcomed guests to a party at the shuttered Camarillo State Hospital, planned site of an off-campus center that could become a full-fledged Cal State University campus.

The get-together--attended by nearly 200 educators, politicians and business leaders--was the first gathering since Cal State trustees in September endorsed a proposal to convert the 61-year-old hospital site into the new Ventura County campus for Cal State Northridge. The relocation of the satellite campus is scheduled for January 1999.

All that stands in the way of that campus becoming a four-year university, said Leavens, a Ventura farmer, is $6.5 million in state funding, which was recently approved by the Legislature and goes before Gov. Pete Wilson for his approval in January.

By next summer, the money could be included as part of the state budget, meaning that the decades-long dream of Leavens and others to bring a four-year public university to Ventura County will be on its way to becoming reality.

Leavens, who organized Sunday’s bash on behalf of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn., said she is confident the money will be approved.

An exuberant Leavens said she envisions the day when the tree-lined walkways of the 720-acre hospital grounds are filled with students of the future Cal State Channel Islands.

“Is this a university campus or what?” she asked.

Ventura County is the most populous county in the state without a four-year public university. And unlike other campuses in the Cal State system, officials hope to design Cal State Channel Islands to pay its way by leasing space to businesses, and by forming partnerships with such local employers as Amgen, GTE and the Navy to trade instruction for internships.

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Mario de los Cobos, regional affairs manager for Southern California Gas Co. and a member of the economic development association, said that until the state approves funding for the university, it would be premature for businesses to proceed with plans to use any of the shuttered buildings on the Cal State Channel Islands campus.

“That permanent funding is what’s going to bring businesses on line,” he said.

Once the money is in place, “I think we’ll see people lining up to come here,” de los Cobos said.

John Dokken, a GTE spokesman, said to focus on what businesses will provide the university is to miss the point on what the university will offer the county.

“This is what the county has needed for a very long time,” Dokken said. “This is going to be a statement on the quality of life in Ventura County.”

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi said the public-private partnerships as proposed are a good way to ensure that the 23rd campus in the Cal State system is financially self-sufficient. At the same time, the Oxnard Republican said university officials must be mindful of being too dependent on the private sector.

“Once the business park is in place, we might lose one or two tenants,” he said. “But there will always be others waiting in the wings to move into the empty spaces.”

State Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara) sported an “unauthorized” Cal State Channel Islands sweatshirt. “This is a dream come true for me,” he said.

O’Connell noted that in February 1996, he and Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos) made it clear to state officials that the state hospital would be an ideal location for the Cal State campus.

“This is the best site in the county,” O’Connell said.

Veteran educators said they are excited about students of all ages continuing lifelong learning at the former state hospital.

“I taught kindergarten, and my kindergarten kids are the [Cal State Northridge] class of 2000,” said Dorothy Jue Lee of Ventura.

In 1996, Lee was appointed by Wilson to the Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards, the group that is responsible for developing the curriculum for the new university.

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“We have so much potential in Ventura County,” Lee said.

Peter MacDougall, president of Santa Barbara City College, said a four-year public university in Ventura County will be welcome news to his students.

“Twenty percent of the students at the [Cal State Northridge] Ventura Center are from Santa Barbara,” MacDougall said. “The best predictor for me as to whether our students will attend the new campus is knowing that many are already driving to Ventura.”

Handel Evans, president of the fledgling Ventura County campus, said the degree programs at Cal State Channel Islands may begin in 2004.

“From the perspective of a state university, that’s tomorrow,” Evans said.

He urged party-goers to talk up the campus in their travels, to encourage others to bring their children to the Lewis Road site, to enjoy a walk on the grounds and to tour the university-to-be.

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To remind guests that the university is a long-term investment, organizers at Sunday’s gathering had a handful of children dress in T-shirts bearing the Cal State Channel Islands logo.

“Talking to children is the key element of the future of this institution,” Evans said.