CSUSM praised by campus aficionado
North County Times 4/10/07
Lake, who began his quest in 1984, rates campuses on their visual appearance and the overall mood they create, and he gave the San Marcos campus some pretty high marks.
"It feels like you are out in the country in a lot of ways," said Lake, who marveled at the views from the hilly, 17-year-old campus. "There are a lot of open spaces, and not as much hustle and bustle as other schools."
Lake, who took a guided campus tour along with his wife and small dog, said he was also intrigued by the university's aggressive plans to grow. Enrollment has increased 23 percent in the past three years, up to 8,700, and is expected to climb near 20,000 in the next decade.
"I can't say we've seen a campus quite like this," said Lake, 57. "The architecture is different, the views are impressive and unique, and there's so much potential to grow."
Lake's wife, Caroline, said she was impressed by the Tuscan Villa architecture of the campus, which was constructed into the hillside instead of at the expense of the natural terrain.
"They didn't just flatten it all out and then build a campus," said Caroline Lake. "Instead of ruining the existing landscape, they preserved it by building into it."
The Lakes said they understand why some students refer to the campus negatively as "Stairmaster U," but they said the many stairwells on campus create a unique look and ensure that students will be in good shape physically by the time they graduate.
Lake said he was also impressed by the five-story Kellogg Library, the largest library in the 23-campus Cal State system, and Markstein Hall, the one-year-old headquarters for the College of Business, which features the latest in classroom technology.
Lake said the campus is certainly among the top 200 campuses he has visited, but explained that he typically prefers the smaller colleges of the Northeast because of their rich history and traditional stone architecture.
His nationwide top 10 includes four schools in the Ivy League, and only one university west of the Mississippi River: Pepperdine University in Malibu.
He also visited the University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University this weekend on a short getaway from Las Vegas, where he has worked as a Caesar's Palace pit boss for 14 years. Lake said he visited UC San Diego and San Diego State on previous trips to the area.
Choosing which campus to visit next is hardly scientific for Lake, who typically chooses a vacation destination and then investigates which campuses are nearby. But he said he has started to take his visits more seriously in recent years.
"It's only about the last 100 schools where I've begun to take officials tours," said Lake, who was guided around campus Monday by sophomore Carla Delgado. "At the beginning, I just kind of wandered around campus and did whatever I wanted."
Lake ducked into the student store on Monday to buy a blue notebook embossed with the university's cougar logo. He said he buys a notebook on every campus to remind himself of all the universities he has visited.
Next month Lake will visit campus No. 400, Central Arkansas State, where university officials plan to honor him with a ceremony and special plaque.
Some schools relish the opportunity to host Lake, and he said he often gets offered a dorm room or free accommodations in alumni houses. But he said officials from about one in every five schools do not seem interested at all in his offbeat hobby.
"Sometimes they just blow me off," he said.
Lake said he began his quest because the college he attended, Concordia University in Montreal, had no campus at all.
"It was a 12-story office building with no open space, so I feel like I really missed out on college life and the college experience," said Lake. "These visits help me see what I was missing."