Appropriate use of computers and the Internet is one of the major issues facing schools and universities across the nation, and Cal State Northridge is no exception. CSUN is on the verge of joining the other 22 campuses of the California State University system to begin an unprecedented partnership with technology giants Microsoft, GTE, Fujitsu and Hughes Electronics.
Pending the outcome of legislative hearings, the four corporations are planning to sign a 10-year contract with CSU administrators to create a for-profit, joint-venture company, called the California Educational Technology Initiative, or CETI (although the name may change). As part of the deal, CETI would wire CSUN and the other CSU campuses with state-of-the-art telephone and computer networks. CETI's mandate would be so broad that the corporation's gross expenditures over 10 years--including the cost of building the infrastructure and supplying and operating the equipment connected to it--could reach $5.3 billion. CETI would supply advanced technology, which some predict the Legislature would be unwilling or unable to provide.
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But faculty, students and organized citizens have criticized the plan as vague and a possible threat to competition and academic independence, and for passing on hidden costs to students. Last month, CSUN's faculty senate joined those of San Diego State, San Francisco State, San Jose State and many other CSU campuses, along with the statewide Academic Senate, in asking for a delay of the merger and expressing concerns about its negative impact on education. At least three campus faculty senates sent letters to state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren asking him "to seek an injunction to prevent the [CSU] chancellor from signing the CETI agreement until there is a business plan from the CSU perspective and allowing six months for faculty to study the business plan and respond." The California State Student Assn. passed a resolution expressing its opposition to CETI and any "privatization of the California State University as a whole." The computer-savvy citizens group NetAction, which is also opposed to CETI, maintains a World Wide Web site with sharp criticisms and a focus on Microsoft.
Responding to public pressure against the commercialization of the campuses it oversees, the CSU administration reluctantly announced Tuesday that no deal would be signed before March, postponing the rushed plans for the creation of CETI by at least a month. Student and faculty critics who attended legislative hearings on CETI that same day were relieved by the delay, and Martin Haeberli, the education director of Netscape Communications, Microsoft's competitor, called it a "stay of execution."
