Maxson tackles overcrowding

By Jennifer Umaña
Daily Forty-Niner

Controlling record enrollment growth at Cal State Long Beach is the top priority for this school year, CSULB President Robert Maxson said in his State of the University Address at the university convocation Friday. 

Speaking to an audience of about 800 in the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Maxson said that the enrollment for this semester, roughly 31,000 students, is the ideal size for the campus.

The exact number of students at CSULB will not be known until late September, when an annual census of the students will be conducted, he said.

A committee has been formed to deal with the ongoing problem of enrollment growth, Maxson said. An analysis conducted by the committee concluded that the maximum capacity for CSULB is 33,000 students.

"Anything beyond that would be a disservice to students and employees," Maxson said.

Hiring and firing faculty to accommodate the varying enrollment is not a viable solution to the problem. Instead, the university needs to find a way to grow in steady increments, he said.

"Universities can't grow in bursts and spurts," Maxson said.

The committee, which will meet with members of the community for input, must have a plan ready for implementation by 2002, he said.

"The plan will give preference to local students -- but will protect the diversity of the student body," Maxson said. "Academically serious, college-bound students will always be able to enroll here."

Another of Maxson's priorities is providing research and creativity support to faculty members. Attention must be paid to the professional development and growth of the faculty, he said.

There are about 65 new faculty members this year, Maxson said. Support will be provided to the new faculty in their second year, he said. There also will be additional support for senior faculty.

While the faculty will be given support for research, Maxson stressed that this commitment will not replace the importance of time spent in the classroom.

"I want to reaffirm our fidelity to classroom instruction," he said. "There are no substitutes in this area. One thing that should never change is the transaction between student and the professor."

The University Library is also central to Maxson's plan for the university.

"No matter how technologically advanced we've become --  there will always be a need for a good university-wide library," he said. "It is central to the mission of all our academic programs."

Maxson also questioned CSULB's identity as a university, part of a discussion from his Thursday meeting with the athletic department officials. Maxson and the department want to define CSULB as either an urban university or a comprehensive university in an urban environment.

"It seems to me -- we may be redefining the definition of the phrase ëurban university'," he said. "We are contradicting many of the notions that many academics have about metropolitan campuses."