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To be fully transparent, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce has not participated in this name change discussion for Cabrillo College. We have stayed neutral in this conversation. If you haven’t been following the ongoing saga about changing the name of Cabrillo College, it is time that you chime in. The Cabrillo College Board of Trustees — led by board members Christina Cuevas and Adam Spickler is heading a subcommittee of the name exploration process beginning in 2020. As noted, Board member Cuevas said, “our discussions have been very, very fruitful and I just feel very positive about the direction of the task force and looking forward to the next meetings.” Lookout Santa Cruz has covered the work of the Board of Trustees and the 24-member task force: https://lookout.co/santacruz/education/higher-ed/cabrillo-college/story/2023-05-02/cabrillo-college-renaming-down-to-85-suggested-names The task force of Santa Cruz County community leaders are working through a very deliberate process to select a new name for the college starting with over 350 potential new names and narrowing it down to 85. The task force will meet again on Friday before the college announces the top three to five names at the community forum later this summer. After receiving community input the task force will meet again before making a recommendation to the Cabrillo College governing board. According to the news reports, the board will vote and adopt a new name at its August meeting. In 2020, the college launched its name-change process after a community petition called on the school to change its name in light of the history of its eponym, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Because his explorations of the California coast contributed to the enslavement and colonization of the region, the college’s governing board voted in November 2022 to change the name, saying that the name doesn’t reflect the values and mission of the college. When the college launched a survey and received 1500 responses and had 400 names on the survey list. The task force removed some names and focused on selecting names that reflect the ‘entire geographic area the college serves and the potential need to engage the tribal leaders. When this name change began to draw community engagement, Wallace Baine wrote an article that provided some historical insight about changing names of colleges, universities, and yes, professional sports teams. https://lookout.co/santacruz/wallace-baine/story/2022-11-20/cabrillo-college-name-change-wallace-baine. When change happens it does stir up emotions and sometimes controversial conversations are heightened. If you scan through any news reports, editorials, and letters to the editor you will find various opinions in support of changing the college's name and you find folks in our community who oppose the name change. What needs to be clear to the community is how the name change impacts the college’s financial situation. The re-branding of the college will include removing all references to “Cabrillo'' and inserting the new name. There will be a cost to the name change and it is not exact as to what that dollar figure will be. I’ve heard $400,000 to $500,000 is a rough estimate. Whatever the cost, it shouldn’t be a burden to the students, faculty, and the community.
To be fully transparent, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce has not participated in this name change discussion for Cabrillo College. We have stayed neutral in this conversation. If you haven’t been following the ongoing saga about changing the name of Cabrillo College, it is time that you chime in. The Cabrillo College Board of Trustees — led by board members Christina Cuevas and Adam Spickler is heading a subcommittee of the name exploration process beginning in 2020. As noted, Board member Cuevas said, “our discussions have been very, very fruitful and I just feel very positive about the direction of the task force and looking forward to the next meetings.” Lookout Santa Cruz has covered the work of the Board of Trustees and the 24-member task force: https://lookout.co/santacruz/education/higher-ed/cabrillo-college/story/2023-05-02/cabrillo-college-renaming-down-to-85-suggested-names
The task force of Santa Cruz County community leaders are working through a very deliberate process to select a new name for the college starting with over 350 potential new names and narrowing it down to 85. The task force will meet again on Friday before the college announces the top three to five names at the community forum later this summer. After receiving community input the task force will meet again before making a recommendation to the Cabrillo College governing board. According to the news reports, the board will vote and adopt a new name at its August meeting.
In 2020, the college launched its name-change process after a community petition called on the school to change its name in light of the history of its eponym, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Because his explorations of the California coast contributed to the enslavement and colonization of the region, the college’s governing board voted in November 2022 to change the name, saying that the name doesn’t reflect the values and mission of the college.
When the college launched a survey and received 1500 responses and had 400 names on the survey list. The task force removed some names and focused on selecting names that reflect the ‘entire geographic area the college serves and the potential need to engage the tribal leaders.
When this name change began to draw community engagement, Wallace Baine wrote an article that provided some historical insight about changing names of colleges, universities, and yes, professional sports teams. https://lookout.co/santacruz/wallace-baine/story/2022-11-20/cabrillo-college-name-change-wallace-baine. When change happens it does stir up emotions and sometimes controversial conversations are heightened.
If you scan through any news reports, editorials, and letters to the editor you will find various opinions in support of changing the college's name and you find folks in our community who oppose the name change. What needs to be clear to the community is how the name change impacts the college’s financial situation. The re-branding of the college will include removing all references to “Cabrillo'' and inserting the new name. There will be a cost to the name change and it is not exact as to what that dollar figure will be. I’ve heard $400,000 to $500,000 is a rough estimate. Whatever the cost, it shouldn’t be a burden to the students, faculty, and the community.