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Maxson paves way for dorms

By Sharon Christensen
Daily Forty-Niner

During his convocation speech Friday, Cal State Long Beach president Robert Maxson announced plans to build more dorms, limit application time to one month and possibly raise acceptance standards.

Maxson, who received a standing ovation after he was introduced by senior vice president of Academic Affairs Karl Anatol, said the recent wave of freshman interest has put pressure on all campus resources.

"What we have been unprepared for is the onslaught of high achieving freshmen," Maxson said.

"The problems weíre facing are very good problems,î Maxson said. "It's a wonderful situation to be in but itís one we must manage if we want to keep the quality of life."

The 18 on-campus residence halls, filled and overflowing into nearby Brooks College, are one indication that freshmen are invading.

"Freshmen live in dorms," he said. "Their moms and dads want them to live in dorms."
Maxson proposed building new on-campus accommodations for 500 students.

"One thing that this universityís got is the luxury of a lot of land," Maxson said.

Although he does not know exactly where the dorms will be built, Maxson is sure where they will not be built.

"I know we have the press with us today and let me tell you where they will not be, and thatís on 22 acres along Bellflower Boulevard," he said, referring to Puvunga, the much-disputed Native American sacred site bordering CSULB.

A "blue ribbon" committee had been appointed to determine the maximum enrollment that will help maintain the quality of services at CSULB, Maxson said.

The committeeís findings indicated the maximum enrollment to be 32,400 students. With current enrollment reaching 28,000 and increasing by 1,000 to 1,500 students annually, Maxson said, the university will reach its maximum in two years.

But, Maxson said, the university can not wait that long.

"These universities are like big ships," Maxson said. "You have to slowly turn."

One of Maxsonís proposed methods for turning this ship is to limit freshman application time to one month, thereby adopting the example of the University of California system. Implementation would also make CSULB only one of three CSUs to limit applications this way, Maxson said, the other two being San Diego State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

"This is not totally foreign to high achieving students," Maxson said.

Another possible means of limiting enrollment, Maxson proposed, with the audible gasp of the mostly faculty audience, is raising acceptance standards.

"It is terribly attractive to your academic reputation to have to raise standards," Maxson said. "But there are ramifications."

"You donít want to limit it so much that youíre turning qualified students away," Maxson said.

Permission must first be granted by the CSU before the guidelines may officially be changed, Maxson said.

Maxson said if the limitation of application time does not do enough to reduce overall enrollment, a committee of senior faculty will meet in spring to determine the necessity of changing guidelines.