UC Takes First Step Toward 3 New Campuses

Despite fears over spending limits, the University of California will soon begin planning to build as many as three new campuses by the year 2000.

A UC Board of Regents committee Thursday unanimously approved the planning--a first step toward what may be a $1-billion expansion to accommodate an expected sharp rise in enrollment.

Selection of possible sites will take at least 18 months and will probably focus on building one campus in the southern part of the state, one in the central part and one in the north, officials said.

There has been “absolutely no serious discussion” yet of specific locations, although many cities are lobbying to be chosen, said William B. Baker, UC vice president for budget and university relations, at a meeting of the Board of Regents at UC Irvine.

‘10-Year Process’

“We’re at the very front end of a 10-year process,” Baker said. That process is sure to include future votes by the regents and debate in the Legislature, which must also approve the construction.

However, UC President David P. Gardner cautioned that any growth in the university on new campuses or on the existing nine “is unattainable” unless the Gann amendment and the recently enacted Proposition 98 are modified or removed.

The Gann amendment links increases in state spending to inflation and population growth. Proposition 98 guarantees certain levels of funding for the kindergarten through 12th-grade public school system and the community colleges. UC and Cal State, which have no such guarantees, fear their funding will be cut.

Regent Roy T. Brophy called Proposition 98 “the most regressive and repressive thing that’s happened” and urged its repeal. Other UC officials said the university in two years may have to drop its commitment to enrolling as much as the top academic 12.5% of California high school graduates.

Baker said planning for the new campuses should proceed despite financial uncertainties. UC hopes much of the land will be donated, as happened at some of its existing campuses. That way, Baker said, the Legislature will not have to appropriate large amounts of money for the new campuses until about six years from now.

According to UC projections, enrollment will grow from the current 154,000 to 217,000 in the next 18 years and the current nine campuses will have room for a total of 197,000. The additional 20,000 students will be accommodated at three new campuses to be opened at one-year intervals between 1998 and 2000 under a plan presented by Gardner last month.

At that time, several regents expressed concern that it might be easier and cheaper to simply expand existing campuses. But no opposition was voiced Thursday during the meeting of the regents’ committee on educational policy. Officials said they expected little debate today when the full board will vote on the matter.

Leo S. Kolligian, chairman of the board, said many regents privately discussed the plan in the last few weeks and decided Gardner is right. Gardner insists that building new schools will not cost more in the long run and that the quality of education suffers if campuses get too crowded.

However, Gardner apparently wants some maneuvering room. Although he has called for three more campuses, the formal motion does not specify a number. It authorizes planning for an additional campus or campuses.

The last major UC expansion occurred in the mid-1960s with the openings of the San Diego, Santa Cruz and Irvine campuses.

In the past, Kolligian called for a campus in Fresno, his hometown, but said Thursday he must not state a site preference during the planning period. Officials in Fresno and other cities in the San Joaquin Valley complain that not enough of their children attend UC because so many of the campuses are far away, primarily near the ocean.

Gardner’s plan takes into account community opposition to rapid growth at UC campuses in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. But people at UC Riverside were angered by the proposal that their campus grow to 15,000 from its current 7,000; the campus and city of Riverside want 27,000 students. On Thursday, Gardner said he would consider the Riverside figure further.

Lisa Adler, a UC Santa Cruz student who is a leader in the UC system’s student government, told the regents that students support Gardner’s plan but worry that it will be paid for by increased fees and by letting current programs deteriorate.

In related business, a regents’ committee approved sending to the governor and Legislature a $2.19-billion budget request for 1989-1990. That is 10.4% higher than this year’s state funds for UC. The university also gets federal and private money.

Under the budget plan, student fees for California residents would increase an average of $42 a year to $1,476 and tuition for out-of-state students would increase $246 to $5,302 a year. Room and board are extra.

Also Thursday, the regents received an annual report on affirmative action that said minority students--including blacks, Latinos and American Indians--made up 14.1% of UC’s 1987 undergraduate enrollment, compared to 6.6% a decade earlier. This does not include Asian students.

William R. Frazer, senior vice president for academic affairs, credited the gains to an outreach program that helps junior high, high school and community college students meet eligibility requirements.

Frazer said, however, that the percentage of minorities in graduate programs and the numbers of minorities and women on the faculty are still small.

The report was challenged by Manuela G. Sosa, a dentist and UC graduate who contended that minorities suffer discrimination in the UC system.

“You have not done the job,” Sosa told the regents.

Times staff writer Bill Billiter contributed to this story.