Backers to Seek Early Opening for New College
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CAMARILLO — In a dramatic shift in strategy, backers of a four-year university in Ventura County will ask next week that Cal State Channel Islands immediately be designated the 23rd campus in the Cal State system, a move that could set the stage for opening a local university years earlier than anticipated.
Under a proposal set for review May 11, Cal State trustees will consider formally adopting the fledgling university into the Cal State family and asking state lawmakers for an annual operating budget of $13 million to hire staff and draft academic programs for the new campus on the site of the old Camarillo State Hospital.
University planners say the strategy shift is due to a variety of factors, including a strong state economy, education-friendly Democrats in the offices of governor and secretary of education and the creation of a solid development plan designed to generate the hundreds of millions of dollars it would take to build the university over the next 25 years.
They say that if financing goals and other criteria are met, the Channel Islands campus could open as early as August 2002.
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