The pace of education and facilities planning intensified with the arrival of the new president (Dr. Peter Smith) in January 1995. (This report will not address the planning efforts that continued under his administration, as these are not aspects of the new campus review and decision process.)
During a visit to the campus and interviews with members of the staff in March 1995, opinions were expressed that the planning was proceeding apace, faculty positions had been advertised and applications were arriving, students were applying, and people were very busy. The necessary first-phase buildings were to be renovated during summer 1995, and contracts had been signed to that effect. The administration and "founding faculty" were going about the business of getting the new institution up and running. A chart in the president's office served as a quick reference to whether events were on track and schedule, as well as a promise of where they were headed and when they would get there. In the words of one campus administrator, "The first year won't be pretty, but we're going to get there."
And so it has been, which explains the frequency with which the expression "work in progress" is heard. The new campus was officially dedicated by President Clinton at a ceremony on Labor Day 1995, an occasion observed by many of the 659 students who enrolled that term. Transfer students boosted the total to 775, of which all but 35 were expected to return after the first year. In May 1996, near the end of the first school year, university officials were anticipating 1,300 students the second year.
With respect to hopes for continued funding, shortly after the campus dedication ceremony Governor Wilson signed Senate Bill 1036 (sponsored by State Senator Mello), thereby authorizing the Fort Ord Redevelopment Agency to use property tax increment funding to finance UC and CSU facilities on the base. Reportedly, this funding source will allow Cal State Monterey Bay to decrease its reliance on state general fund resources to continue its progress and growth.52
The federal contribution to the base-conversion effort, starting with the $15 million Congress appropriated in October 1994, increased to $29 million with an appropriation of $14 million in October 1995 (this second appropriation was personally announced by President Clinton as part of the dedication ceremony).
The conversion process has not been exactly problem-free. The Army's buildings, erected in another era, did not meet the state's rigorous seismic codes or more recent federal standards for disabled access. According to estimates released shortly before the first school year started, 84 buildings would need to be demolished, and an additional 21 buildings may or may not be renovated, depending on cost. Roads need widening, the telephone system needs replacement, and electrical transmission lines need to be buried.
An unexpected problem with particularly vexing overtones was revealed in the announcement that the base's water supply is sufficient for only about 13,000 students, the enrollment level anticipated for the year 2010. To reach the hoped-for figure of 25,000 students, campus officials believe they will need to implement water-saving technologies or build a desalinization plant.53 Even these figures seem optimistic in the context of President Smith's announcement in January 1996 that the water supply would be sufficient only for a campus of 5,000 to 8,000 students.54 Nevertheless, the campus was still holding to the 25,000-enrollment goal, although acknowledging that meeting that goal might require having most of the students take courses via computer, perhaps never setting foot on the former military base. On the other hand, the reduction in aspirations was somewhat offset by the observation that "such a large campus [25,000 students] would probably overwhelm the surrounding communities and be an inappropriate presence in such a rural area." According to President Smith, "If you dump a university of 25,000 people--is that really the dream? I don't think it is."55