Spring semester begins at College of the Desert’s temporary Palm Springs campus
The first ever classes at College of the Desert’s temporary Palm Springs campus begin today, offering a glimpse of what could be in store at the planned permanent West Valley campus nearby.
Students in Palm Springs will start the spring semester at the temporary site until the development of the permanent campus can be completed, just down the street at the site of the former Palm Springs mall.
The 11-classroom temporary campus, which is expected to serve about 600 students annually, is about half a mile west of the mall where COD officials hope to someday erect a permanent West Valley campus that will serve around 3,000 full-time students.
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The movement toward the acquisition of the mall has moved slowly though, with ongoing litigation between the Desert Community College District and the mall’s owner, YTC Investments. The district seeks to obtain the land through eminent domain. A trial date is currently set for mid-May.
The agreement to establish the temporary campus was reached last fall, which COD Superintendent and President Joel L. Kinnamon called a “win-win-win for students, College of the Desert and Palm Springs Unified.”
“Opening these classrooms allows our west valley students to attend classes close to home and work as we acquire, construct and open our permanent campus over the next few years,” Kinnamon said. “We look forward to fulfilling our promise to our students and the Palm Springs community.”
Following the agreement for College of the Desert to lease the 4.15-acre owned by the Palm Springs Unified School District, officials touted the move as a way of offering local higher education to high school graduates living in the Palm Springs area.
“PSUSD is pleased to partner with COD as it plans for its permanent campus here in the west valley,” PSUSD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sandra Lyon said. “Having a Palm Springs temporary campus will serve many of our Palm Springs Unified graduates, and we are excited to be able to lease this property to help COD fulfill this great need.”
