Allan O Kelly

The president of Cal State San Marcos hastily withdrew a controversial endowed chair in geology Wednesday, citing public criticism and conceding that his faculty would have found the conditions attached to the $250,000 endowment unacceptable. President Bill Stacy said his decision was based on a Times article on Wednesday in which professors and education officials said the conditions in the endowment agreement would be unacceptable to most legitimate scientists and universities.

The president of Cal State San Marcos hastily withdrew a controversial endowed chair in geology Wednesday, citing public criticism and conceding that his faculty would have found the conditions attached to the $250,000 endowment unacceptable. President Bill Stacy said his decision was based on a Times article on Wednesday in which professors and education officials said the conditions in the endowment agreement would be unacceptable to most legitimate scientists and universities.

Before opening its doors to students, Cal State San Marcos has received two endowed chairs from local businessmen who donated $250,000 each, university officials announced Thursday. The donations will provide a faculty position in communications and another in earth science/geology, university officials said. The endowed chairs provide money for research and partial salary to help attract top professors.

The president of Cal State San Marcos hastily gave back a controversial endowment for a geology chair Wednesday, citing public criticism and conceding that his faculty would have found the conditions attached to the $250,000 endowment unacceptable. President Bill Stacy said his decision was based on a Times article Wednesday, in which professors and education officials said the conditions in the endowment agreement would be unacceptable to most legitimate scientists and universities.

When last we heard from Janet Powell, she had just given up her sporty Ford Mustang and sprawling Indiana home and was preparing to come teach at Cal State San Marcos. Now, six months later, she tools around in a used Plymouth van and lives in a three-bedroom Vista condo with a Spanish-tile roof. She's not looking back.

Cal State San Marcos has agreed to conditions for a quarter-million-dollar geology endowment that academics believe could make the brand-new state university a laughingstock of the nation's educational community. The money comes from a lifelong Carlsbad farmer and cattle rancher whose self-studied theories on how the Earth's surface was shaped are widely regarded as outlandish by geologists.