Cal State Fullerton’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute could be facing relocation from its 37-year-long residency in the Ruby Gerontology Center.
OLLI is a program on campus that provides “active older adults the opportunity to continue learning in a university setting,” as stated on their website.
The university credits the request of this relocation to the admission of a record student body of over 45,000 this year, the largest in the CSU system.
“With only 14 large classrooms on campus, including Mackey Auditorium in the Ruby Gerontology Center (RGC), we are now operating at near-maximum use of available instructional space,” the university said in a statement to the Daily Titan. “Repurposing facilities such as RGC could create thousands of additional class seats each semester – capacity our students urgently need.”
The program — first created under the name Continuing Learning Experience in 1979 — played a significant role in the RGC’s funding for initial development.
Opening in 1988, the RGC was funded in part with a $750,000 OLLI community contribution and private donations. However, it was outlined under University President Jewel Plummer Cobb in 1985 that the facility was created under the condition that it was managed by the university.
OLLI President Vikie Hite related the collective reaction within the program to parents being evicted from a home in lieu of the “grandkids” needing it.
“We give to the university on a regular basis,” Hite said. “We support the basic needs program with clothing and food. We’ve given over a ton of food and 4,000 pieces of clothing to the career center, so we feel we earn our spot here.”
According to Mike Stover, the program’s immediate past president and current board member, CSUF’s OLLI program is unique within the CSU system for its on-campus site. He explained that this sentiment was one that the building was campaigned on.
“This was going to be one like none other in this state,” Stover said. “This would be one that we had the seniors design their own — that it wouldn’t be a ‘top-down’ process.”
After the pushback from OLLI members and leaders, the university has readjusted the timeframe from expecting the move by January of 2026 to “no sooner than June of 2026,” according to the university.
“I’m working hard, not only to be collaborative, but to be responsive to human needs, but I would not neglect what I know to be true about the future of this campus as it pertains to student success,” said CSUF President Ronald Rochon.
In response to OLLI’s voicing of their needs, the university has settled on creating an advisory committee to oversee the prospective relocation and the obstacles brought with it. It will be made up of 10 representatives — five from OLLI and five from the university.
The final lineup of the committee is still being decided on both sides, but John Beisner, executive director of risk management and compliance, and Sean Walker, deputy provost, will be joining from the university’s side.
The initial offered spaces for relocation included McCarthy Hall, with Titan Hall being the dominant option, both presenting their own benefits and losses in the eyes of OLLI leaders.
Titan Hall’s physical separation from the rest of campus poses an issue of safety for the program’s demographic, with members mid-eighties and up constituting about 200 of their approximate 1200 members, according to Hike.
“Our demographic obviously has more people with limited mobility than the regular university demographic,” Hite said. “So we just wanna ensure that we can reaffirm to our members that everything’s as it should be.”
As conversations continue between the two entities, the university president is hoping for the advisory committee to bring about solutions to begin the process within the timeline of June 2026.
“I’ve offered OLLI an opportunity to sit down with members of our campus… to sit down and talk about what can we do,” Rochon said. “How can we potentially look at the existing space, look at new space and actually find a win-win in the room with regard with how we provide access and continued success for all Titans.”