Fourteen students that have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina have accepted the opportunity to attend Sacramento State.

According to the California State University Mentor Web site, Sac State is one of the ten campuses in the CSU system to admit students that were affected by storm damage in the Gulf Coast region.

In a forum, held by the Renaissance Society of Sacramento, President Gonzalez said that the university would do its best to aid the students academically and psychologically.

A donation of $5,000 has already been made and the university is looking at possibilities to waive the students’ fees, Gonzalez said.

The progress of Destination 2010 was the main topic of the organization’s forum on Friday. Gonzalez acknowledged major issues of that the university is currently facing and the progress of the solutions.

According to Gonzalez, parking currently remains the most important issue for the campus. The construction of Parking Structure III is not scheduled to be completed until the Spring 2007 semester.

To relieve the parking problem, Gonzalez said that the school is in the process of obtaining more overflow parking. He hopes that the university will have these areas for overflow parking by the start of the Spring 2006 semester.

Gonzalez said that alternative modes of transportation are another way of dealing with the parking issue. He said that the university is planning to meet with consultant groups to develop more public transportation methods including buses, light rail and shuttles.

Gonzalez elaborated on the plan to link the campus to the light rail station on 65th street, which was previously introduced, at the forum. In this plan, students and faculty who travel by light rail would be able to reach the campus by links that run through the Hornet Tunnel and loop around the campus on a system similar to Montreal’s Bus Rapid Transit, which links rail systems to buses.

Gonzalez reiterated his point that Destination 2010 aims to transform Sac State from a commuter campus into a residential campus.

Plans to build new apartment-like dorms, by demolishing the older dorms one at a time, are another aspect of the overall vision of Destination 2010 Gonzalez said. Housing for faculty and staff is already progressing. The community will include childcare services and retail facilities.

Infrastructure improvements on the campus will create a dynamic physical environment on campus. Gonzalez mentioned that the older buildings, like Douglass Hall and others in the center of the campus, will be demolished and newer buildings will be built along the campus’ parameters.

Demolishing the older buildings, he said, will be less costly than trying to improve them. The university plans to make the area where the older buildings currently lay, an open environmental area.

The construction of the new bookstore, which will be located behind the University Union, is set to begin around early next semester. The project to turn the bookstore into a setting similar to bookstores like Barnes and Nobles will take about 18 months to complete.

The completion of the new logo for Sac State has contributed to Destination 2010. Gonzalez mentioned that he is hoping to give the university a trademark with all these plans so that people can say, “That’s Sac State.”

The next step, he mentioned, is the new signage at Sac State that will make it easier to get around campus. Gonzalez said that the signage project, produced by four groups of students from the design department, will go out to bid and would begin in a few months.

“Destination 2010 was not my idea,” Gonzalez said. Many members of the campus community have contributed in developing ideas to improve the university, he added.

“I am rooted in the belief that this university is a good one,” Gonzalez said. “It has talent.

“It will be a premier university.”