California State University At Northridge

The third High Desert Football Coaches' Assn. all-star game, a.k.a. the Cal State Northridge recruiting showcase, will be played tonight at 7 at Antelope Valley College. Five future Matadors will play in the game, which features the top seniors from Antelope Valley-area high schools. Running back Brandon McElvaine and lineman Edwin Reed of Highland High and lineman Nick Koufos of Lancaster will be key players for the West team, coached by Ray DeShane of Lancaster.

The large wave of refugees from war-ravaged Central America that arrived two decades ago has transformed more than neighborhoods, the workforce and restaurant cuisine of Southern California. Now, as Vanessa Guerrero's new diploma shows, the influence of that migration is being embraced academically by one of the region's largest public universities.

There were times when Siris Barrios, now a 20-year-old urban planning major at Cal State Northridge, wouldn't even admit she was born in El Salvador. Her parents rarely discussed the civil war or their trek to the United States. At the public schools near her Watts home, her Mexican American peers looked down on her, she said, recalling a Spanish-language vulgarity she would hear directed toward Salvadorans.

Located little more than a mile from the epicenter of the deadly Jan. 17 temblor, the nearly 38-year-old campus of Cal State Northridge suffered significant damage in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. Among the structures most severely affected were an $11.3-million student parking structure that collapsed and the university's Oviatt Library and Fine Arts building, both of which suffered serious structural damage.

A Cal State Northridge official blamed by the administration for a $2.27-million investment loss was fired Monday and warned that even if she exercised her legal right to a demotion, she would be ousted for alleged "unprofessional conduct," her attorney said Wednesday. The fired official, Karen Hoefel, 47, has worked for CSUN since the early 1970s, most recently as director of finance and logistical support, and is three years shy of receiving substantial retirement benefits.

Three if by Land. And sometimes by the other guys on the Northern Arizona basketball team. Long-distance shooting carried Northern Arizona to its second Big Sky Conference championship in three seasons, an 85-81 overtime victory over Cal State Northridge before 3,316 Saturday night at Montana's Adams Center. Ross Land, the NCAA's career three-point percentage leader, led a three-point assault that included an 85-foot swish and a Big Sky tournament-record 16 three-pointers by a team.

There are few institutions, particularly those with serious money problems, that would turn down an offer of free labor from highly trained, experienced professionals. Because of a glitch in state law, Cal State Northridge is one of them. At least that's what several retiring professors say after learning that the school can't, in most cases, accept their offer to return to work--for free.

Cal State Northridge students have narrowly voted to oppose establishment of a Carl's Jr. on the campus, capping an acrimonious, yearlong debate over banning the fast-food outlet because of the conservative views of its founder, Carl N. Karcher. However, only about 2,100 of the university's 30,000 students voted in the non-binding referendum Tuesday and Wednesday, which some school officials said raised doubts about its validity.

Cal State Northridge officials decided Thursday to allow fast-food restaurants on the campus but sidestepped the thorny issue of allowing a Carl's Jr., which won a campus taste poll but is opposed by groups that object to the political views of the chain's founder. After more than two hours of discussion, the CSUN Foundation board of trustees voted 7 to 2 to authorize the foundation management to negotiate with outlets such as Taco Bell, Baskin-Robbins and Subway.

It's anything but a traditional college campus--and that seems to be a source of discontent to many students at Cal State Northridge. According to a new survey, 38% of CSUN's students "are dissatisfied with the sense of community on campus" and 50% "do not participate in social or cultural activities on campus." The survey also found that most students spend very little time at Northridge when not attending classes.