Cal State Fullerton\u2019s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute could be facing relocation from its 37-year-long residency in the Ruby Gerontology Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n
OLLI is a program on campus that provides \u201cactive older adults the opportunity to continue learning in a university setting,\u201d as stated on their website.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith 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,\u201d the university said in a statement to the Daily Titan. \u201cRepurposing facilities such as RGC could create thousands of additional class seats each semester \u2013 capacity our students urgently need.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program \u2014 first created under the name Continuing Learning Experience in 1979 \u2014\u00a0 played a significant role in the RGC\u2019s funding for initial development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
OLLI President Vikie Hite related the collective reaction within the program to parents being evicted from a home in lieu of the \u201cgrandkids\u201d needing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe give to the university on a regular basis,\u201d Hite said. \u201cWe support the basic needs program with clothing and food. We\u2019ve given over a ton of food and 4,000 pieces of clothing to the career center, so we feel we earn our spot here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Mike Stover, the program\u2019s immediate past president and current board member, CSUF\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was going to be one like none other in this state,\u201d Stover said. \u201cThis would be one that we had the seniors design their own \u2014 that it wouldn\u2019t be a \u2018top-down\u2019 process.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the pushback from OLLI members and leaders, the university has readjusted the timeframe from expecting the move by January of 2026 to \u201cno sooner than June of 2026,\u201d according to the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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,\u201d said CSUF President Ronald Rochon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In response to OLLI\u2019s 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 \u2014 five from OLLI and five from the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Titan Hall\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur demographic obviously has more people with limited mobility than the regular university demographic,\u201d Hite said. \u201cSo we just wanna ensure that we can reaffirm to our members that everything’s as it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve offered OLLI an opportunity to sit down with members of our campus… to sit down and talk about what can we do,\u201d Rochon said. \u201cHow 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal State Fullerton\u2019s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute could be facing relocation from its 37-year-long residency in the Ruby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,3005,15259,19910,19911],"class_list":["post-26253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-csuf","tag-olli","tag-ronald-rochon","tag-ruby-gerontology-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}