$6.5 Million Backed for Cal State Conversion

LONG BEACH â€”  Taking another critical step toward transforming a shuttered mental hospital in Camarillo into a college campus, Cal State University trustees Wednesday approved a budget that includes $6.5 million for the conversion.

In endorsing a $2.8-billion spending plan for fiscal 1998-99, the governing board reconfirmed its commitment to expanding educational opportunities in Ventura County, with an eye toward ultimately launching a full-fledged four-year university at the old state hospital property.

“Every step of this process is critical,� trustee Jim Considine said after the board’s unanimous budget vote. “If we don’t have budget funding, we can’t do much up there. We will continue to do our part until the budget is signed to make sure everything stays on track.�

The Cal State University system’s entire spending package now goes to the desk of Gov. Pete Wilson, who will issue his own budget proposal in January for consideration by the Legislature.

If funding for the Ventura County campus survives months of budget hearings and makes it into the final budget document, Cal State planners next year will receive $6.5 million to operate the campus at Camarillo State Hospital and turn a number of its Spanish-style buildings into classrooms and administrative offices.

“It’s very satisfying to have this happen and it’s all part of a very satisfying process,� said Handel Evans, president of the developing Ventura County campus. “There are a number of steps yet to go, but the important thing is that we have the right ladder in place to get us there.�

In September, the 24-member Cal State governing board agreed to take control of the now-shuttered state hospital and convert it into the new home for the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge.

Under that plan, the satellite campus will remain an extension of the Northridge university until it attracts enough students and funding to support itself and become the 23rd campus in the Cal State University system.

That landmark decision went a long way toward ending a decades-long wait for a public university in Ventura County.

University boosters have long pointed out that Ventura County is the most populous county in the state without a four-year public university. And they have long argued that generations of local students had plowed into an educational dead-end for lack of a local college.

The trustees’ vote is contingent on the governor’s willingness to contribute the $6.5 million for renovation and operating expenses.

According to the Cal State University budget document, that money will be used to recruit and relocate faculty members and provide equipment to establish an instructional program.

In addition, about $1.1 million will be used to pay the debt on a $10-million bond needed to renovate about 100,000 square feet of classroom and administrative space.

That will enable the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge to open for business at the hospital property by January 1999.

The $6.5 million will allow planners to “expand educational offerings to address the demand for higher education services in Ventura County,� the budget document states.

Now the focus shifts to Sacramento, where the governor and state lawmakers hold the key to pushing forward with the conversion project.

Along those lines, state Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) will be at Camarillo State Hospital today to tour the facility with Ted Lempert (D-San Carlos), chairman of the Assembly’s higher education committee.

“I’m looking forward to showing Assemblyman Lempert the newest CSU campus,� O’Connell said in a prepared statement. “Many more steps will be taken to bring this four-year college to fruition, and Assemblyman Lempert could be in a position to help support our efforts.�

And Sunday afternoon, local business leaders will host a party at the hospital property to acquaint Cal State trustees and other officials with the site.

“It will really be helpful to have everybody get out there and see the facility,� Considine said. “Once you’re on the site, it looks so much like a college campus that people really begin to see the vision.�