August 19-25, 2007 Issue |
Posted 8/14/07 at 1:32 PM
A Catholic university will be the center of a planned
3,000-acre subdivision overlooking Sacramento, Calif., with splendid views of
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, thanks to a land donation.
“This will be a Catholic university that gets to start out
without any problems of being landlocked in any way,” said the developer of the
subdivision, Cordova Hills, Ron Alvarado.
Alvarado, a Catholic, and his business partner, Charles
Somers, recently donated 200 acres of hilltop land so the Legionaries of Christ
can build a campus for the new University of Sacramento, the first university
to be established by the order in the United States.
“It’s a beautiful site with a 360-degree view of the entire
region,” said Legionary Father Robert Presutti, president of the University of
Sacramento. “The campus will sit at about 270 feet above sea level, and the
plane of Sacramento is at about 50 feet above sea level. It’s an absolutely
beautiful location, in a state that’s blessed with nature and a beautiful
climate.”
The University of Sacramento is part of a global network of
15 universities operated by the Legionaires of Christ. The university launched
its first curriculum, offering a Master of Arts in Education degree, in January
2005 with 40 students in downtown Sacramento office space. Today, about 80
graduate students are enrolled in two certificate programs.
The university will launch a second master’s program, the
Global Leadership MBA, in the fall of 2008.
The university’s master plan, which Father Presutti hopes
will be achieved within 25 to 40 years, calls for a university with a combined
undergraduate and graduate enrollment of about 7,000 students, athletic teams,
sports facilities, residential facilities and a performing arts center.
A law school may also be on the horizon, but Father Presutti
said the university’s long-term academic focus mostly will be determined by
consumer demand.
“I salute the university’s continued progress to create a
new and unique educational resource for the Sacramento region and beyond,” said
Jonathan Brown, president of the Association of Independent California Colleges
and Universities.
Father Presutti said the Legionaries studied census data,
population trends, geography and educational needs throughout the United States
when deciding where to locate their first university in the United States.
Sacramento, he said, became the obvious choice because of its growth rate, its
Catholic population and California’s need for more universities.
Brown said the Legionaries’ decision is California’s
blessing.
“California will need an additional 700,000 higher education
seats in the coming years to meet the needs of all its students, with a
significant portion of the need focused here in northern California,” Brown
said.
History of Education
The Legion opened its first university, the Anahuac
University, in 1964 in Mexico City. Today the Legion operates 43 post-secondary
educational institutions, including its universities. The Legion also operates
175 pre-school, elementary, middle and high schools around the world serving
more than 122,000 students.
The land for Cordova Hills was bought by developers four
years ago, and will be used for a mix of high- and low-density residences,
commercial, recreational, open space, schools, and hiking and biking trails.
Alvarado said his decision to donate land for the university
wasn’t based on his Catholic faith.
“It really wasn’t,” Alvarado said. “But the overall global
vision of the Legionaries got us excited about this. Irrespective of faith, we
could see they were bringing a vision that would positively impact the area and
people of all religions. The philosophy they bring is one of balanced and
well-rounded education, and that can only be constructive for this region.”
Not everyone, however, is applauding. A June 25 story by
Eric Stern in the Sacramento Bee said environmentalists would prefer that new
universities be developed inside existing urban boundaries, in order to
preserve rangeland as undeveloped open space.
“It’s going to be controversial. They have no entitlements.
They’re going to have to go through a long process to do that. It’ll require
the whole works,” said Sacramento County Administrator Paul Hahan.
Father Presutti and Alvarado said they have no expectation
of an easy road to approval, even though the land is within the urban services
boundary of Rancho Cordova and Sacramento County, and has been designated for
urban services by the county since 1993.
“In California, with its myriad laws and regulations, it’s
always difficult to develop anywhere in the state,” Alvarado said. But we and
Father Presutti are very respectful of the environment and regulations designed
to protect it. This entire development will be designed to respect the needs of
the environment, while utilizing it properly for the needs of humanity.”
Michelle Smira, spokeswoman for the Cordova Hills
development, said everyone involved with the University of Sacramento and the
proposed development to surround it anticipates a cooperative relationship with
the Sacramento County government.
Alvarado said time, not regulation, has become his biggest
concern.
“The Legion wants to be operating on this campus by 2012,”
Alvarado said. “Getting through the process does take time, so time is our
worst enemy. But we will meet the university’s timeline.”
Wayne Laugesen is based in
Boulder, Colorado.
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