California is going to explore what it would take to bring a public university campus to Chula Vista.
Under a bill signed into law this week by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a new task force will look for ways to fund construction and operation of the new campus and consider legislative changes that might make it easier for the state’s public university systems to work together.
The task force will be made up of representatives from UC San Diego, San Diego State University and Southwestern College. It will also include officials from Chula Vista and Sweetwater Union High School District, which serves large swaths of the South Bay.
Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-Chula Vista), the author of the bill, called it a “significant” step towards expanding higher education opportunities in the southern reaches of San Diego County.
“It's an acknowledgement that we have a college desert where opportunities are not being provided to families and students,” Alvarez told KPBS Tuesday. “We now have buy-in from a statewide level to do something that we've talked about doing for a while.”
The task force is set to begin meeting next summer and will have one year to put together a report.
For decades, Chula Vista leaders have dreamed of bringing home a university. The county’s second-biggest city is one of the largest in California without a public institution for four-year degrees.
The last public university California created was UC Merced, in the Central Valley, which first opened in 2004.
But officials like Alvarez envision something different for Chula Vista. Instead of a more conventional single-university campus, they imagine a regional university hub for degree programs from UCSD, SDSU and CSU San Marcos, along with community colleges like Southwestern.
It would also include programs from the high school district and from universities in Mexico like CETYS Universidad in Tijuana.
The hope is a campus would be located on the city’s so-called University Innovation District, a swath of just over 380 acres of city-owned land on the city’s eastern side.
City officials have also long-supported the effort. This week, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann celebrated Newsom’s decision, calling it “a historic moment.”
“With this legislation, we can continue our work,” McCann said in a written statement.
UCSD, SDSU and CSU San Marcos have already announced plans to offer various bachelors’ degrees in Chula Vista through Southwestern College and the city’s new Millenia Library building.
Alvarez says those programs are part of their long-term plan.
“Once you have physical buildings in place, those programs can move with the professors and the students into the actual campus,” he said.
