1995_02 The Daily Collegian February 1995

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6—The Daily Collegian     Monday, February 13^1995
L^J
Education
UC
From Page 1
The UC draft environmen¬
tal impact report, prepared in
. October, states that the county
could undergo a massive urban
transformation if the develop¬
ment is pursued along with a
UC campus. >
The EIR states that the Rio
Mesa development "would al¬
low for the urbanization of thou¬
sands of acres of land around,
and including, the campus site."
The report states that without
the campus-, the development
would reach full capacity in 70
years.
Jensen said full develop¬
ment of the land would take a
while. "Ifs going to take a pe-
ric^o^time that^vvul be longer
''an vow or I will live," he said.
As a result, he said, Madera resi¬
dents willhave time to plan care¬
fully for future development—
including saving some of the
county's rich farmland.
Of the three UC\ sites,
Madera County's is the only-
parcel that consists of entirely
prime farmland. The UC plans
to use only 2,000 acres of the
3,000-acre Table Mountain site.
Jensen said preserving
Madera's largely agrarian
economy was important to the
' county's 106,000 residents.
"We're making a statement
about saving our prime agricul¬
tural land—what we're saying
is that if s going to be very diffi¬
cult to take that away," Jensen
said.
Millerton Lake State Park,
in another rural area northeast
of the site, will feel the^effects of
the proposed campus as well.
Lake superintendent Jim
Peat said the recreation area is
prepared for more visitors pend¬
ing the Rio Mesa development
or the new campus.
"I definitely think putting a
campus there will', give us an
increase in day use on both sides
of the lake," he said. "We may
actually reach appoint when we
reach Icarrying capacity often,"
he said. '%
Chief park rauger Scott^
Wassrhund said carrying capac¬
ity forjhe lake "depends on the
water level of the lake."
There are 138 campground
sites, and 4ay use on the Madera
County side of rhe lake can
handle up to 150 vehicles, he
said. On the Fresno side, between
300, and 500 boats can" be
launched, but, "as far as a set
capacity, it depends on the level
of the lake," Wassmund said.
Peat said the increased us-
age and encroaching develop-
ment will have an effect on the
environment and oh animal
habitats near the lake.
"From my poirirof view, the
proposed development cduld
hinder certain habitats, and I am
concerned about that," he said.
Possible habitats that could be
affected include coyotes and bald
eagles, he said.
"If the campus is going tobe
put in place, thafs going to spee4
up the impact of the develop¬
ment. That's not to say I'm op¬
posed to the campus; I just think
we need to take a careful look at
it," he said. .
Mark Aydelotte, director of
public affairs for the UC office in
Fresno, said growth could actu¬
ally help Millerton.
"There are those that will
argue that having recreational
areas is a plus. I dont think the
UCsees it as a negative quality,"
he said.
"What really would concei n
me is having a development
without concessions to the envi¬
ronment; it certainly loses the
natural envuxjnmertt aspect,"
Peat said.
"In my mind, thafs an im¬
portant aspect of Millerton
Lake," he said.   *^.
Jensen, who has been a su¬
pervisor for nine years, back
when Madera was much
smaller, said residents are ready
for growth whether UC comes
or not. •    ,
"All big towns are small
towns at one time," he said.    -
' "I just.hope they make a se¬
cession and quit taxing the
people, and I'm confident they
will," Jensen said.
"They've taxed my patience
a little bit, so I just hope they
make a decision soon."
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Burch
From Page 1
community with quality educa¬
tors.
"What we're talking about
here is yesterday's news, OK?"
she said. "The Fresno Bee did a
couple of stories on this when it
was happening; the situation it¬
self and the resolution. Nowhere
in any of this has there been any
question about the performance
.of the school," she said.
Twice before, Burch had
canceled interviews to speak
with Staff members from The
Daily Collegian inv the past two
weeks.
In January, the Academic
Senate voted on a non-binding
resolution and gave her a full
vote of confidence. Burch said
other factors contributed to the
strain in the school, and she said
that she wasn't completely
blameless for the School of
Education's problems.
} "I think people had prob¬
lems with my style of communi¬
cation, perhaps even styles of
work. I think I'd give ycou per¬
spective that might be a little
different than what you're look¬
ing for, but I think ifs a fairly
accurate one.
"I probably push people
hard, and I think people [in the
school] push hard," she sakL
Burch said the problems of
increased class loads, over¬
crowded classrooms and "a
shrinking budget took its toll on
the faculty. This had an ex¬
tremely negative effect on pro¬
viding students with quality
education.
"The-SchoOl of Education is
a little bit different from other
schools, because wehave a lot of
constituents to serve. We not
only have faculty who are try¬
ing to do ay the professorial
things that other faculty on cam¬
pus do, but we're also expected!
to serve schools — folks in the
field in the community," she
said.   /
As a result, problems in the
school get jnagnified to a higher
degree thai other schools on
"'.'-'„.:/■..; /".:&•*■• ..
campus, she said.
"Interestingly enough, a lot
of times, what their [the educa¬
tional community's] needs are,
-don't always match the things
that are valued at a university,"
she said.
Burch said that she drives
faculty hard because she sees a
need to raise the declining value-
of education in schools.
"Thejob of teacher is a tough
job," she said. "We have to pre¬
pare people, and thafs hard.
"I guess I feel compelled,
and I think some of my faculty
'do, to figure out what we're go¬
ing to do about a child's educa¬
tion," she said.
"I think next to parents,
teachers are the absolute most
important people in a child's
life," she said.
All the more reason to push
her faculty to the limit, she said.
"Yes, I push hard, and I think
faculty do, too. I think when you
:-add all of those things up to- I
gether, it created some divisions
that got us into a bit of a jam,"
she said.
Alexander Gonzalez* pro¬
vost and vice-presidetit for aca¬
demic affairs, has confidence in
her abilities despite criticism
from the faculty.
"The basic problem you*
. have in the School of Education
i£ you haye a majority of the
faculty that have confidence in
the dean and rate her as doing a
good job, b&t what you have is a
group of individual faculty, for
one reason or another, [that]
don't agree with the majority,"
he said.
Gonzalez said that in the
course of problems beyond the
faculty's control, like rising tu-.
ition costs and 'increased
workloads, division is some¬
times expected.
"My view is the university,
is a dynamic place that is con¬
stantly ^changing," he said. "T
thinkftne faculty and the dean
have learned something from
this, and that they are going to
move forward and set aside
some of their djirerences and
work together? or the betterment
of the school and the univer¬
sity, "Gonzalezsaid.   -
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