What a boon a satellite campus of San Jose State University
would be for South Valley.
What a boon a satellite campus of San Jose State University would be for South Valley. We encourage Gilroy, Morgan Hill and county officials to smooth the way for the four-year college, a part of the California State University system, to find a second home in the region.
Gilroy’s experienced at rolling out the red carpet for retailers. Morgan Hill knows how to woo businesses with its office parks. Elected officials and city administrators in both communities need to apply those skills to convincing San Jose State University to open a satellite campus in South Valley.
The proposal – still in its infancy – looks like a win-win for the university and South Valley. For San Jose State, a satellite campus would provide the landlocked university more room to serve the nearly 32,000 enrolled in the college. South Valley is eager for the services SJSU provides.
An SJSU satellite campus would help students enrolled at Gavilan Community College make a seamless transition to the four-year university that most of them choose to attend after completing their junior college coursework. It could boost Gavilan College’s recruitment efforts. A satellite campus would ease traffic congestion – and its accompanying noise, smog and increased frustration levels – on U.S. 101, as thousands of South Valley students might take their classes close to home rather than traveling on to San Jose.
The prospect of students from points south – the Central Coast and Central Valley, for example – attending classes in South Valley means they’ll likely spend money in our region’s stores and restaurants. And so will the teachers and other support personnel a university would require.
Finally, there’s the prestige having a Cal State campus in the region would bring to South Valley.
“It always raises the prestige level of the community to have a university system campus in the community,” Gilroy’s Economic Development Director Bill Lindsteadt said.
From local school districts to Gavilan, from Morgan Hill to Gilroy, let’s work together to make sure this opportunity isn’t missed. Let’s do everything we can to help San Jose State officials come to the conclusion that South Valley is the place for a satellite campus.
