Maxson to meet with Clinton

Cal State Long Beach President Robert Maxson is scheduled to be at the White House Thursday to lobby President Bill Clinton for $1 million to help the university build a research plant.

Maxson will be joined by Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill. The two will visit with the National Economic Council in the morning, then with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.

Maxson said that even if no federal funding is secured, plans for 32 acres of former Long Beach Naval Shipyard land owned by the university would move ahead. He said the engineering department would probably be the plant's biggest user. But Maxson spoke enthusiastically about the prospects of CSULB benefitting from the high-tech "inventions" of its students.

Maxson will fly back to Long Beach after his day in the nation's capital to spend time with his son, who's visiting from medical school.

It will be the third meeting between fellow Arkansans Maxson and Clinton.