SACRAMENTO -- Promising that any last-minute fixes will be made "with chewing gum and baling wire," California State University at Channel Islands President Richard Rush assured a state commission Monday that classes will open as scheduled in the fall.

Rush's progress report to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, required by law, turned out to be a mutually congratulatory presentation to the agency that two years ago gave the final green light for the university's creation.

"We moved it ahead of schedule," said Commission Chairman Alan Arkatov. "Everything we've seen validates that confidence."

The campus, which now offers classes as a satellite of CSU Northridge, will become an independent, degree-granting university in the fall. Formal ceremonies will take place Aug. 16.

The only note of discord, albeit good-natured, came when a CSU trustee reprised a debate over the architecture of the new library.

Ralph Pesquiera reiterated concerns about the clashing styles of "traditional, 1930s Spanish-style California architecture and an ultra-modern design."

Rush acknowledged that "we're at a point of divergence of opinion," and pledged that the university is committed to preserving the architectural integrity of the converted former Camarillo State Hospital campus.

Rush's presentation was preceded by remarks from Sen. Jack O'Connell, D-San Luis Obispo, who briefed the commission on the status of higher education funding in a challenging state budget year.

"I've quit asking the Department of Finance how big the deficit is, because every time you ask it gets bigger," O'Connell said.

He noted that the commission's report two years ago on the anticipated surge in college enrollment has proven accurate.

The good news in dealing with that rising demand, O'Connell said, is the Legislature's approval last week of "the largest bond measure in the history of the planet" to build schools and colleges in California.

Community colleges, which will have to absorb most of the 700,000-student increase in college enrollment over the next decade, will receive 40 percent of the bond money dedicated to higher education, O'Connell said.

In addition, the constitutional change that requires local approval of school bonds at 55 percent instead of two-thirds resulted in March in the passage of 13 of 14 local community college bond measures, including the one in Ventura County.

"That's a trend I expect will continue," O'Connell said.

Rush promised that the Channel Islands campus "will provide access as its bedrock foundation."

He told commissioners the university has guaranteed admissions agreements to accept graduates of eight community colleges.

-- Timm Herdt's e-mail address is herdt@insidevc.com.