Sacramento State has made significant progress toward accomplishing the goals set by Destination 2010, but has faltered in seeing the initiative’s goals to the end.

VIDEO: Daniel Vasilchuk asks students about the Destination 2010 initiative.

The initiative, which started in 2004, has since then pushed Sac State to improve its academic programs and campus visibility. The initiative’s main focus has been moving Sac State away from its commuter campus image.

The goals of Destination 2010 include recruiting the best faculty, admitting a more diverse student body and revitalizing the campus and its academic programs, according to the list of Destination 2010 priorities on the Sac State website.

The Recreation and Wellness Center, aimed at improving campus visibility, has not been finished, but construction is projected to be completed by September 2010. The construction of the Science and Space Center, meant to improve academics, has been postponed because of funding problems.

Sac State has also focused on faculty recruitment in an effort to improve academics. But the California State University system’s dire economic situation is getting in the way of this goal.

Massive budget cuts and furloughs are not the best way to welcome new faculty.

Along with the budget situation comes not being able to fulfill the goal of admitting a more diverse student body.

Students may be taught by great faculty members, but they are also paying 32 percent more for this education.

With spring admissions closed next year except for 150 teaching students, and the overall cut in students admitted annually, campus diversity will suffer.

Events such as Preview Day and visits to area churches by President Alexander Gonzalez will work to attract a diverse pool of applicants, but it may not be enough to improve current proportions.

With many goals still in progress, Destination 2010 seems like it has hit a few bumps.

Donald Taylor, director of academic planning and quality, disagrees. He believes that we should not look at Destination 2010 as endpoint to development.

“(The year) 2010, in my mind, was a point at which we could stop and reflect on where we are,” Taylor said.

To outsiders such as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which accredits colleges and universities nationwide, the campus seems to have been revived with change.

The January 2009 “Educational Effectiveness Review” report by WASC stated that “many of the changes at the heart of the Destination 2010 vision have succeeded, and these changes are not merely cosmetic.”

The campus does look a lot better, but some of the changes have been cosmetic.

Students do not really need a Barnes & Noble atmosphere in a bookstore. Living in the Courtyards is not open to freshmen. It would likely improve Sac State’s image to let freshmen live in the Courtyards as well, since the residence halls are one of the first things freshmen consider when choosing a school.

University Transportation and Parking Services anticipated a good parking situation for this semester, in an e-mail sent to all Sac State students on August 2009.

Parking permit prices are high. There is not much space for parking, depending on when students get to campus.

So, while Destination 2010 has made a few important steps into the future of Sac State, the plan is still lagging behind.

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