Calling CSU Channel Islands a "testament to a dream," President Richard Rush celebrated the university's 10th anniversary at a convocation Friday.

Friday, in fact, was the 10-year anniversary of the first day of classes at the Camarillo state university. Anniversary events, however, are planned throughout the year.

"Higher education is the pathway to a better life," Rush told a crowd of faculty, staff, students and parents, past and present. "But the state has reduced (CSU) funding by $750 million and is threatening another $250 million if tax proposals don't pass this year. It's a dismissal of our children's and grandchildren's future."

But Rush and other speakers, including Greg Sawyer, vice president of student affairs, talked about triumphs as well.

"It's the Channel Islands way," Sawyer said after the convocation about the university's founding. "We gathered together people who are resilient and motivated, and it was the right combination of people. It wasn't one of us, it was all of us working seven days a week 10 to 12 hours a day."

"When you strip it all away," Rush said after the ceremony, "we answered the challenge of building a university for students. We built it for student success. It's on mission statements all over the campus, and everybody here believes in that mission."

Rush said he was proud of the public and private partnerships built at the university. "I'm not intimidated by public-private partnerships," he said. "I was told when we started that we faced an uphill battle in funding, and I knew what that meant."

Retired Capt. James McHugh, former commander of Naval Base Ventura County, said, "I've seen this university grow and it's been great the way they've reached out to veterans and have been successful in partnering with the U.S. military.

"If I or any base commander recommends a veteran to the school, they work with that person or those people and it's a great partnership," he said.

David Ashley, a senior majoring in biology and the current student body president, agreed "there's an enormous sense of community at Channel Islands. We have civility in our discourse and we respect each other and it's given me so much."

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CSU Channel Islands holds anniversary convocation