CSU Campus Source of Hope and Opportunity

Ventura County educators rolled out the welcome mat Thursday for a new Cal State campus, saying the decision to launch the county’s first four-year public university will open untold opportunities for generations of local students.

It’s hard to know how many local youngsters will benefit from the new campus.

But educators say the pool of college-bound students will expand, given CSU’s policy of guaranteeing a seat to any senior with a B average or better, and given the fact that at other state campuses, upward of 80% of students come from surrounding areas.

At Nordhoff High School in Ojai, guidance counselor Niki Harder said she believes the new university--established Wednesday by unanimous vote of the Cal State governing board--will put a four-year degree within reach of students who otherwise might have faced an educational dead-end.

At Camarillo High, counselor Toni Garubo said she plans to start priming ninth-grade students about the new college campus that soon will be available in the city’s backyard.

And at Channels Island High, the university’s Oxnard namesake, counselor Ramon Campos said the new campus will draw students who cannot afford to move away from home or have no desire to do so.

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“It’s all people have been talking about this morning,” said Campos, who has been at the Oxnard high school since 1975 and has seen many students let college dreams slip away for lack of a campus close to home.

“Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve wondered why Ventura County didn’t have its own university,” he said. “It’s long overdue. I’m ready to go out and raise the flag as soon as they give me one.”

The Cal State University governing board unanimously agreed Wednesday to convert Camarillo State Hospital into the new home for the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge.

That is the first step in a long-range plan to transform the former hospital into a free-standing university to be called Cal State Channel Islands.

As part of its mission, the Cal State University system accepts the top one-third of graduating seniors from high schools across California.

That means that any senior with a 3.0 grade-point average or better is guaranteed admission to a Cal State campus.

For students with a 2.0 and 2.9 grade-point average, admission depends on how well they score on college-entrance exams. A grade-point average of 2.99, for example, requires an SAT score of 510 for admission. A 2.0 grade-point average requires a score of 1,300.

But educators say the most important element of the governing board’s vote is that it will create a public university within easy driving distance for local residents.

“This obviously will open up opportunities they would have never gotten unless they were ready to move away from home,” Harder said. “For some students, this will make the difference between getting a four-year degree or not.”

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Driven by that reality, Cal State officials are turning their attention to crafting an academic program that will define the new campus and launch it into the next decade.

During the past year, academic planners have been working toward that goal.

Already, they have started offering a master’s degree in social work under the Channel Islands banner, using two-way audio and video hookups at CSUN’s Ventura campus to pipe in the three-year program from Cal State Long Beach.

In coming months, planners will step up efforts to identify educational needs in Ventura County and find ways to shore them up.

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Cal State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed said there is no goal more important as the university steps out of the shadow of Cal State Northridge and becomes a full-fledged, four-year campus.

“Anytime a region has a university, nothing but great things can happen,” Reed said after Wednesday’s vote. “But what we need to do now, and take time doing, is plan the academic programs. We know we’re going to have to step that up.”

Toward that end, planners have been laying the foundation for the university’s curriculum by drawing on the county’s natural assets.

They are tapping the region’s agricultural industry, biomedical powerhouses and Navy bases to help develop academic programs. In addition, there are committees looking at everything from engineering programs to teacher training.

“What we will try and provide for our students is an education that recognizes who they are and prepares them for life in general,” said Handel Evans, president of the Channel Islands campus.

“But there is something else more subtle that we will provide,” he said. “Students will begin to be raised with a university as part of the culture. They’ll come to realize that they can go to the university, that there is this place for them.”

On high school campuses across Ventura County, that feeling is starting to take hold.

In the Santa Paula Union High School District, where educators have raised academic standards and funneled all students into college prep classes, Supt. William Brand said the new campus will give youngsters a goal.

Brand said he plans to meet with CSU officials to see how teachers can better prepare students to earn admission.

“Having the university in our community is going to create a very positive alternative for our kids,” he said. “And we’re going to get them in there.”

At Camarillo High, counselor Garubo said now that the dream of a local campus has come true, she plans to spread the word about the new educational opportunity.

Like many parents, Garubo said she had hoped her children would have the opportunity to attend a local campus. Now she said she hopes the institution will be ready for her grandchildren.

“I think it’s great, especially for our students who are qualified to go to Cal State but who choose to stay home because of finances,” she said. “This will just open up a whole new window for them. It’s the best thing that could have happened.”