CSULB to get $62.5 million

By Carrie Porche Jones, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, November 9, 1998

The passage of Proposition 1A will provide Cal State Long Beach $62.5 million over a four-year period for much-needed changes and improvements, said Ken Swisher, spokesman for the California State University system.

Under Proposition 1A, $208 million will be divided among six CSU campuses, with the largest amount, $83 million, going to the San Jose campus. Cal State San Marcos will receive $73 million, with CSULB following with the third largest award.

"I am a happy man, very, very happy," CSULB President Robert Maxson said. "This is so big for the university because we need it so badly."

Maxson said the money will start coming in the fall of 1999. The first expenditures will be for renovation of the Fine Arts Buildings.

About 87,000 square feet will be added to the existing buildings for new art studios.

Approximately $13 million of the allocated money will be used for telecommunications.

Fiber optic wiring will be installed, linking buildings to each other to facilitate communication across the campus and the world, Maxson said.

"The following year we will start the new state-of-the-art science complex that will cost about $30 million. The three Peterson Hall Buildings will be renovated and a building will be added," Maxson said.

The science complex will receive an additional 55,000 square feet for laboratory space, most of which will be used by the chemistry and biochemistry departments, and 46 new faculty offices, Swisher said.

Maxson said the new building will be probably be built on the hill next to Peterson Hall Building 3.

"About $4 million will be used for fire and safety upgrades across campus, curriculum updates and compliance with the American Disabilities Act," Swisher said.