Growth Amid Upheaval: Cal State Northridge

1977

University Student Union opens, its construction paid for by enrollment fees.

1981

President Cleary signs university’s first foreign student exchange agreement with China. Similar agreements follow with Japan, Ukraine, South Korea, Brazil, Taiwan and Netherlands.

New general education program mandates basic requirements in all disciplines before students can graduate.

1984

California lottery, which helps fund education, is instituted. CSUN uses revenue to purchase science equipment, fund speakers and visiting professors and make other purchases.

May

Construction on campus requires commencement ceremonies be held at Hollywood Bowl. Result is what LAPD calls one of worst traffic jams on Ventura Freeway.

October

Nine faculty members ask bookstore to remove sexually explicit magazines from racks. Nov. 15

Faculty Senate votes, by narrow margin, to return the magazines, citing 1st Amendment concerns.

1987

Groundbreaking for University Park Apartments.

1988

September

Enrollment peaks at 31,575 students and remains steady until spring 1993.

1990

June

University sports programs move into NCAA Division 1.

1991

March

Smoking is banned in campus buildings.

1993

April 30

Blenda J. Wilson, chancellor of University of Michigan-Dearborn, is inaugurated as president of CSUN after taking over for Cleary in September.

1994

Jan. 17

Northridge earthquake causes $378 million in damage to campus.

Feb. 14

Spring semester begins, two weeks late, as school officials scramble to arrange temporary facilities on campus.

Feb. 16

Vice President Al Gore visits CSUN, promising emergency funds to rebuild campus.

Aug. 29

Oviatt Library, badly damaged in quake, reopens.

1995

Jan. 17

President Clinton visits campus to mark first anniversary of Northridge quake.

“You are now the symbol of the ability of the people of this state to keep coming back after adversity upon adversity,” Clinton tells CSUN crowd.

Enrollment falls to 23,642, lowest since spring 1971.

Nov. 8

More than 600 students protest California Civil Rights Initiative on Affirmative Action. This is first campus protest in many years.

1996

Aug. 27

Enrollment returns to pre-quake levels at 27,189.

Sept. 25

More than 1,000 demonstrators protest appearance of former Klansman David Duke, who debates civil rights activist Joe Hicks. Two-hundred LAPD officers in full riot gear meet crowd, but only minor injuries occur.

1997

June 11

Four men’s sports teams are cut in effort to comply with gender equity laws and tighten school’s budget.

July 17

Wrecking ball begins tearing down Richard Neutra’s Fine Arts Building, damaged in 1994 earthquake.