Student life returned to normal in the California StateUniversity on Monday when the last of the four campuses closedbecause of the state’s recent fires reopened its doors tostudents.

CSU San Marcos resumed classes on Monday after a weeklong hiatusdue to the devastating wildfires that scorched the southern half ofthe state last week.

CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow said that the decision toclose those campuses was made by the presidents at eachinstitution, not by CSU Chancellor Charles Reed.

Despite the disruption to their school schedule, some studentssaid they felt the decision to temporarily suspend classes waswise.

“I think it was a good idea to close the school, becauseso many people here lost so much and couldn’tconcentrate,” said San Marcos sophomore history major MattMcCarron. “Plus, with the air being so bad it was a good moveto shut the place down.”

Polluted air was a major concern for the campuses. CSU SanMarcos, CSU San Bernardino, Cal State-Northridge and San DiegoState were closed due to air pollution.

At San Diego State, Cox Arena and Montezuma Hall were used asrefuge areas to allow students to escape the polluted air. Theuniversity reopened Thursday. As of Saturday, the smell of smokestill lingered in university buildings.

Athletes have had to practice inside buildings because of thedangers of air pollution to their health. The CSU San Marcos trackteam had to practice on treadmills indoors rather than on thetrack.

All of the buildings at all of the campuses closed by the fireshad to be cleaned and deodorized before they were reopened to thestudents. The buildings’ air filters also had to be changedbefore reopening.

At CSU San Bernardino, a massive clean up was not the only thingto be done before classes resumed last week. Many classes had to beassigned to different rooms, because the old ones had been damagedor destroyed by fire.

Wildfires destroyed one temporary classroom structure anddamaged two others. The other two structures held classrooms and astudent fitness center.

CSU San Bernardino reopened for classes on Oct. 29.

Officials at all CSU campuses affected by the fires said thatstudents would not be penalized academically because of thetemporary closure of the universities.