A third Cal Poly? Gavin Newsom calls for transformation of struggling CSU campus

Humboldt State University, located in Arcata on California’s North Coast, has faced declining enrollment numbers for years with fewer and fewer students opting for the remote campus in the redwoods.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, flush with a $76 billion state budget surplus, is backing a plan to turn the trend around by making the school a magnet for science and engineering students.

The $268 billion budget plan he submitted to lawmakers last month includes $433 million to transform Humboldt State into the state’s third polytechnic university.

It would be the only Cal Poly-style campus in Northern California. The others are in Pomona in the Inland Empire and San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast.

Humboldt State University officials, lawmakers and area business advocates are confident that a coveted “Cal Poly” designation will entice students to head up north.

“This is a game-changer for the North Coast,” said Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, whose district includes Humboldt State.

Newsom’s budget request, which will have to be approved by the Legislature, comes as Humboldt State continues to struggle with declining enrollment.

Humboldt State posted an enrollment of 7,923 in the 2015-16 academic year. The number fell every year since then, dropping to 5,600 students last year.

The school admits 92% of the students who apply to it, according to data kept by U.S. News and World Report.

California’s two Cal Poly campuses, by contrast, are for more competitive.

Cal Poly Pomona, for instance, turns away 45% of applicants. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has an even higher bar for admission. Its acceptance rate is about 28%, and it rejected more than 15,000 applicants with grade point averages of 4.0 or greater this year.

Renovations for university labs

Newsom’s budget would allocate millions of dollars toward renovations of Humboldt State’s science and laboratory facilities, as well as enhanced computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

The budget also calls for $25 million in ongoing general fund spending “to support the addition of academic programs that would be offered under Humboldt State University’s polytechnic designation, such as programs in cyber security and technology, wildlife management, and climate resilience,” according to the budget.

“This is potentially a huge shot in the arm for the area,” said Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, whose district includes Humboldt State.

The move toward a polytechnic designation developed over months at the university, said Provost Jenn Capps.

Humboldt State already has a reputation as a strong STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) school, Capps said, including offering the most science majors of any school in the California State University system.

“We’re already sort of a polytechnic without the designation,” Capps said.

As part of the transition, Capps said Humboldt State plans to offer more engineering and technology programs as well.

With more programs comes more students, and more faculty to teach them. Humboldt State may be remote, but Capps said the school doesn’t struggle in attracting people to come work there.

“Once people come here, they really want to be here,” she said.

Investment in rural California

Donna Wright, president and CEO of the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that local businesses will benefit from the labor force infusion from new students moving to the area, as well as from a higher volume of sales.

“The polytechnic designation will have a ripple effect in the community,” Sen. McGuire said.

Newsom’s focus on building up the rural California campus, in one of the poorest regions in the country, rectifies a mistake that Democrats made in 2016, McGuire said. Humboldt County’s median household income is $48,000 a year, behind the state median household income of $75,235, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“One of the reasons why Donald Trump won for president is because Democrats across the United States forgot about rural America,” McGuire said.

McGuire said that for California to be successful, the state must invest in its rural communities.

“This is a generational investment that will impact tens of thousands of students in the years to come,” he said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 6:15 AM with the headline "A third Cal Poly? Gavin Newsom calls for transformation of struggling CSU campus."