For many students dreading San Diego State’s escalatingovercrowding woes, a new satellite campus may not do much to ease thesuffering.
For the past semester, the university has been working toestablish a campus in Brawley, population 25,000, located about 115miles east of San Diego. The campus, still very much awork-in-progress, will allow students to get credit for upperdivision through SDSU.
The campus is to be built on 200 acres of land formerly used foragricultural purposes. Long Beach-based Alamitos Land Co. donated theland to the California State University system two years ago. Thecompany owns about 1,800 acres of agricultural land in the ImperialValley.
The campus is expected to accommodate about 100 students when itopens in 2003, and to experience gradual growth to about 400 or 500students by 2009-10.
Brawley will be one of four SDSU satellite campuses in and aroundthe San Diego area, accompanied by National City, Miramar — whichrecently opened at the beginning of this semester on the MiramarCollege campus — and Calexico.
Currently, there are more than 30,000 students attending SDSU andthat number is only expected to increase in the future.
Does SDSU expect Brawley to ease problems of programmaticimpaction and overcrowding?
“No — they are really unrelated issues,” Ethan Singer, associatevice president for Academic Affairs, said. “The Calexicoestablishment was designed to serve a very underserved area. Manystudents that do attend would not otherwise receive a baccalaureatedegree because there just isn’t any other outlet there for them, sowe really see a separate mission for our presence in the ImperialValley.
“National City and Miramar are our response to the issue ofovercrowding.”
However, the new site will help counteract existing pooreducational opportunities in an area that has a comparatively highpoverty rate to other counties. It is also expected to alleviate someof the increasing enrollment of the Calexico satellite campus, about22 miles south of Brawley. The Calexico campus, originally designedto accommodate about 400 students, now enrolls close to 1,000students.
Singer said planning for the Brawley campus is still in theinitial stage, right now centering around the legal aspects offormally accepting the land offer. Stephen McNett, associate dean ofAcademic Affairs based out of Calexico, said he is excited about thefuture campus in Brawley, and he senses the town is excited andsupportive about it as well.
“The campus is unique because its extensive land resource willoffer opportunities to expand agri-business studies, the onlydiscipline which SDSU does not offer,” he said.
McNett also said the campus is special because of its plans tobuild a solar farm that would occupy approximately 20 acres. Thesolar farm could provide power not only for the campus, but for thecommunity of Brawley also, he said.