Theme
2: Becoming a Safe, Supportive and Welcoming Campus Community
and Physical Environment
Reflective
Essay on Theme II, Issue No. 5: Physical Aspects of Campus
How safe is CSUSB relative to other institutions?
CSUSB compares very positively to other CSU campuses, according
to the California State University 2001 Annual Report of Crime
Statistics. For example, from 1998 to 2001, CSUSB had no homicides,
1 rape (1998), 2 robberies (2001), and 2 to 3 aggravated assaults,
all of which were comparatively less than the majority of
other campuses. Burglaries, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft,
and arson were also significantly less than the majority of
other campuses, however, the incidence of minor thefts of
personal property and car thefts has remained high, though
the number has not increased in recent years. Although no
crime is acceptable and any violent crime is a cause for concern,
student and staff surveys have indicated that most students
feel safe on campus.
Our crime statistics are very good when compared to urban
campuses throughout the state. A recent Press Enterprise newspaper
article also revealed that our campus had one of the lowest
crime rates of all the colleges in the Inland Empire. (See: http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm2/appendix/i5/youngVul.pdf )
Although, the campus is relatively safe, this does not allay
the fears of many of our students because the widespread reputation
of the surrounding community for high crime and violence makes
students and staff cautious and wary. The spacious, park-like
setting of the campus on the edge of town also can lead to
a sense of isolation and vulnerability. The campus has responded
by cutting back bushes around buildings, adding blue light
call boxes, putting emergency phones in all classrooms, providing
escorts at night, and adding a great many additional outdoor
lights.
In spring of 2003 President Karnig appointed a widely representative
Taskforce to look at the issue of campus safety and make recommendations
where needed, including costs and sources of funds associated
with specific proposals. The charge is to:
- Review both the incidence of recent crimes and the longitudinal
crime statistics.
- Review actions that already have been taken to improve
campus safety.
- Make recommendations that are likely to further improve
campus safety.
It already is it clear, however, from the persistence of
the safety issue in campus conversations, public forums, and
articles in the student newspaper that the campus community
is looking for more a visible presence by parking and public
safety officers and tangible programs to ensure the safety
and to put students and staff at ease.
What programs ensure safety and prevent crime?
The University has developed a large number of offices and
programs to support the health and safety of its students.
(See http://police.csusb.edu/safetyreport.htm )
The Public Safety department takes a proactive approach to
the protection of the campus and enforcement of law. Under
Campus-Oriented Problem Solving (COPS), crime problems are
addressed with the resolution of the underlying problems when
possible. Enforcement action is taken to prevent, as well
as react, to crime. Tactical Action Planning, or the organized
efforts at enforcement, is utilized to attack criminal activity
and prevent its reoccurrence. The underlying goal is the safety
of the campus community, so that the educational process may
occur as intended. Campus safety is the paramount goal and
the single most important core value of the University Police
Department.
Additionally, the University Police Department provides an
escort service to all students, staff and faculty. The service
is available upon request, on a "first call - first served"
basis. University Police Community Service Officers ( CSO'S)
are trained student assistants, equipped with police radios
and will respond to the request. If a CSO is not available,
a police officer will respond to the request. Currently, the
campus has ten CSOs that provide public relations and contact.
The CSO or officer will escort the requestor to their car
or other locations on campus. After normal business hours,
weekends and holidays, a police officer will respond to the
escort. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days
a week by calling 909/537-5165 to request escort service.
Are we making the campus more accessible and user friendly
with parking, roads and signs?
Parking is a critical issue for the campus and will remain
so for the foreseeable future because enrollment growth continually
outpaces the number of parking spaces. Although the campus
enjoys an enviable situation compared to most other CSU campuses
and has the highest rating the 1999 Student Need and Priorities
Survey, our students rate parking lowest of all aspects of
the campus. A five year plan has been established for expanding
parking and a number of improvements have been made with additional
parking spaced added, a new connector road was added between
Lot A and B with space for parallel parking
The recent addition of two new large student housing units
has added to the number of cars needing both day and night
parking and taken up some parking spaces previously available
close to buildings. With the large Social Sciences building
which opened in 2002 and other new buildings scheduled for
the north side of the campus (Science Annex and Education
building) more access roads and parking will be built which
will eventually divert traffic and parking from the existing
lots on the older south side. The addition of Campus Drive
connecting North Park to Kendall and the eventual construction
of a Pepper Linden Avenue freeway connection combined with
completion of a circular road connecting the northern portion
of the campus to both North Park and Little Mountain Drive
will allow for more development of buildings, disperse traffic
and parking and provide better use of available land.
Early construction of additional access roads and off-ramps
to Interstate 215, which are on the city and state plans,
is essential to the growth of the campus. Even with this assistance,
it is apparent that parking will remain a problem for some
time. The campus is now considering the feasibility of construction
of multi-story parking garages, which will solve some problems
but greatly increase the cost of construction and require
much higher parking fees.
Continued build out of the physical master plan
CSUSB has one of the most attractive physical settings in
the CSU system. This was the first campus in the system to
have a comprehensive long-range facilities master plan and
to be allowed to use private architects. With 430 acres of
land, the result is a spacious and open environment with an
abundance of trees, grass and shrubs and beautiful mountain
vistas. The basic design of the campus provides for a ring
structure with the library as the center and academic and
administrative buildings clusters along two long east/west
vistas.
In 1999, the campus master plan was revised and approved
by the CSUSB Trustees. This was a significant event because
this allowed our official long-range target and enrollment
capacity to be raised from a maximum of 12,000 full-time equivalent
students (FTES) back to the 20,000 FTES envisioned in our
original 1963 charter. While maintaining the integrity of
the design originally laid out, the new plan provides a much
more realistic distribution of buildings for each of the academic
colleges and administrative functions based on current program
mix, student needs, and enrollment projections by discipline.
The revised plan also incorporates a more extensive and systematic
plan for distribution of entrances from city streets, access
roads on campus, and parking. In addition, the new master
plan provides for several new major points of entry to the
campus on the Northwest and North side and the completion
of a ring road around campus. A related plan projects better
internal access roads with separate lanes for pedestrians,
cars, and bicycles.
What have we done to improve campus facilities and
construct new buildings?
The university continues to make strides in adding and improving
our teaching, administrative, and support facilities. A number
of construction projects have been completed since the last
WASC self-study and visit and many more are underway or in
the design phase. In the past ten years the campus has added
a number of large classroom and administrative buildings and
carried out a number of remodeling and expansion projects:
- Expansion and remodel of Pfau Library to house Telecommunications,
Academic Computing and Media, and Computer Center (1994)
- Seismic Retrofit of older portions of Library (1995)
- Health and Physical Education Building (1995)
- 5000-seat Coussoulis Arena (1995)
- Yasuda Center for Extended Learning (1995)
- Visual Arts Building and Fullerton Art Museum (1996)
- Seismic Retrofit of VA Building (1997)
- New Facilities Planning, Physical Plant, Duplication,
Mail Services, and Public Safety facilities (2000)
- Phase I Expansion of Residence Halls ( 2001)
- Temporary Student Recreation Center (2001)
- Phase II Expansion of Residence Halls (2002)
- Social and Behavioral Sciences Building (2002)
- Phase I of Permanent Palm Desert Campus (2002)
- Completion of Telecommunications Infrastructure (2003)
Projected Capital Construction Planned: The next five years
promise to bring additional classroom and support space into
use. See full details of size and projected cost of new buildings
at:
http://cpdc.csusb.edu/html/projects/projectupdate/projectupdate.html#majorcap
Additional new buildings funded for construction include:
- Natural Sciences Annex ( 2002-2004)
- Phase II of Palm Desert Campus (funded from private donations)
(2003-04)
- Student Union Expansion (funded by student fee referendum)
(2004-05)
- Student Recreation Center (funded by student fee referendum)
(2004-05)
The university has also secured Trustee approval for:
- Remodel of Biology and Physical Sciences Buildings (2003-2005)
College of Education Building (2004-07)
Other projects under development of full specifications and
awaiting funding include:
- Children's Center Addition (2004-05)
- Parking and Public Safety Building (2004)
- Library Renovation and Distance Learning Lab (2004)
- Phase III of Palm Desert Campus (2004-05)
- Performing Arts Renovation Addition, including 600-seat
Theater (2005)
- Expansion of Yasuda Center for Extended Education (2005)
- Utility Infrastructure and Central Plan Expansion and
Renovation (2006)
- Science Land Lab and Outbuildings (2006)
- Information and Distance Learning Center (2007)
The net effect of the above construction will be the addition
2575 FTES capacity in the next five years at a cost of over
$170,000,000. The funding of several of these buildings is
contingent of passage of a state-wide referendum, which will
allow the sale of bonds to provide money for construction.
Even with these new facilities, it appears that the campus
will continue to need to use the temporary modular classrooms
and offices located at the back of the campus for the foreseeable
future, due to loss of 1270 FTES of classroom space and a
number of offices with the Pfau Library renovation. These
modular units have recently been repaired and upgraded to
keep them maintained and useable.
Campus Signage: The University recognized that the
campus layout has been confusing to those new to the institution.
A comprehensive signage plan was developed with the help of
outside consultants and is being implemented. Highway, campus
entrance, and peripheral road signs have been improved and
added. Additional pedestrian Directories and Maps have been
installed. Building function and identification signs have
been installed in major buildings, such as University Hall,
Sierra Hall, Administration Buildings, Jack Brown Hall and
Pfau Library to assist students and visitors, and more are
planned as funding becomes available. The addition of parking
and information kiosks at the two main entrances to the campus
on North Park Boulevard has also helped direct visitors and
new students, but more signage is still needed due to the
widely spread buildings and functions which are large distances
from each other.
Traffic flow and social interaction. A plan also has been
developed and implemented to construct new and expanded campus
roadways to separate pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles. In
addition, the campus has planned and is constructing more
social spaces, with trees, shade, benches, and tables where
people can gather and interact. Most critical to campus traffic
is the construction of the planned ring road around the back
of the campus, which will connect to new city roads and bring
vehicles on to campus from other directions and entrances.
Conclusions
This is a relatively safe and well-developed campus with
adequate and functional physical facilities on an attractive
park-like setting that was master planned to accommodate our
maximum capacity of 20,000 FTES. The campus continues to grow
rapidly, however, to serve the burgeoning population of this
region. Despite recent and planned construction, the campus
is continually in a "catch up" situation. Given
the timelines involved in getting buildings approved and funded
by the state, there is always the possibility of dropping
behind on our schedule for opening new facilities. The "temporary"
modular classrooms appear to be with us into the foreseeable
future. The campus is attempting to deal with this growing
issue by raising private funding for buildings, offering more
courses off-campus and on-line, making greater use of facilities
during the summer quarter, and offering more courses on-weekends. Additional information and a more detailed Full Report on
the topics dealt with here can be found at: http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm2/thm2iss5fr.htm
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