CSU Campuses Evolving

Spartans Seek More Regional Role
for oldest California State University (1862)

CSU Campus Village, San Jose, California.

Several California State University campuses saw significant changes in 2005. Earlier in the year, Hayward became "CSU East Bay", as that school sought a broader regional role in the Bay Area. Then, CSU professors in Sacramento stopped a move to change CSU Sacramento's name to "Sacramento State University". Meanwhile, students and alumni at the original California State (1862) fought to restore their right to market themselves as CSU graduates.

These changes are fueled by the growing perception among students and alumni that the city-name-plus-state formula for identifying schools like "San Jose State" and "Sacramento State" is a failure for graduates of these schools and for the schools themselves. These city-based identities are just too restrictive to create the support, interest and influence necessary for the development of major universities that grant more prestigious and valuable degrees.

Indeed, the pro-CSU professors in Sacramento who stopped the "Sac State" name change cited the "prestige" and "gravitas" of their version of the California State University name. Likewise, many students and alumni in San Jose, perhaps a majority, also dislike the restrictiveness of the "San Jose State" identity and image. As students and graduates of the oldest and original CSU, founded in 1862 as the California State Normal School, they believe they should have the right to market themselves as CSU graduates, and that their school should have the strongest California State University identity of all the CSU schools.

The Cal State East Bay name change also highlighted the need for stronger regional roles for CSU campuses. Part of the justification for the name change was to prevent the emergence of yet another CSU campus in Contra Costa County. This benefits the entire CSU, by preventing further dilution of the CSU name.

Many now believe that other campuses, particularly San Jose, should follow suit and develop regional CSU identities that help prevent the creation of additional CSU campuses. Under the "San Jose State" identity, the school's influence is mostly limited to that one city. While under a more regional CSU/Silicon Valley-oriented identity the school could more easily foster interest and support from other cities and even statewide. This would also benefit graduates, whose degrees would "travel" better, regionally, statewide, nationwide, and even internationally, because of the inclusion of the more recognizable California State University name.

Many believe restoration of San Jose's original California State (1862) identity could also be an important step in development of the entire CSU system at this time. By attempting to cover up San Jose's identity as the original California State institution of higher learning, the "SJSU" proponents have not only hurt their own school but have degraded the prestige and identity of the entire CSU system. The lack of San Jose's identification with the CSU has robbed the system of its early history and the strong sense of identity, tradition and purpose provided by a founding campus. Would the University of California have evolved into the prestigious system it is today, if Berkeley had supressed its California identity, the way the San Jose-only "SJSU" proponents have since 1974?

Because of the SJSU's policy of suppressing its identity as the original California State insitution of higher learning, the entire CSU system has become inverted. The schools with the stronger CSU identites are the newer, southern campuses like Long Beach, Fullerton & Northridge, while the older Northern campuses, like San Jose, are stuck with identities like "San Jose State" that largely limit their appeal and prestige to just one city. But the newer schools lack the history and tradition, as well as the prestige of Division 1A football, to give the CSU system a strong national identity. This, in turn, hurts the State of California itself, which is prevented from having two schools with strong that identities to represent it, as states like Oregon (Oregon & Oregon State) and Washington (Washington & Washington State) do.

In response to these concerns, San Jose students and alumni who seek the right to take advantage of their school's potentially powerful California State University identity have developed a program to restore their school's identity as the founding campus of the CSU. For more information on this see California State University Restoration Plan for San Jose. To support this goals, please join one of the CSU Supporter groups (see Supporters ) or contact alumni@gostate.org directly.