CSUN Leader Holds Community Forum

Intercollegiate athletics and the annual budget process were among the topics addressed by Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson during a spring community forum Wednesday.

“It’s a way for us to give reports about overall progress and major activities of the university,” said Wilson on the forum, attended by 25 CSUN faculty and staff.

Wilson said the university is committed to a broad-based athletic program, which currently numbers 20 sports, that will be competitive with other schools in the Big Sky Conference.

Wilson also expressed the university’s commitment to gender equity in the athletic program, which she said will be best met by increasing opportunities for women rather than decreasing opportunities for men.

The university, she said, will receive funding from the state that will help enrollment during the 1998-99 school year.

“In previous years, we have been asked to enroll more students without [receiving] more money,” she said. “While our enrollment is high, we will at least be getting funding for those students who are within our enrollment target for the first time since I have been here.”

CSUN Provost Louanne Kennedy, who attended the forum, said budget requests for the hiring of full-time faculty will be discussed at a public meeting Friday, at 1 p.m. in the West Valley Room of the Student Union.