Students & Alumni Vote for SJSU Name Change

CSU Restoration Draws Support

Sixty-three percent of students and alumni who voted in a February 2005 "straw poll" of several Yahoo groups favored restoration of San Jose's CSU identity in some manner. Of the 76 students and alumni voting in nine "SJSU" Yahoo Groups, 48 voted to restore the words "California State University" to the schools public identity.

The non-binding straw poll showed strong support, across several diverse interest groups, for restoration of San Jose's identity as the original and oldest California State University campus. While one pro-CSU group, the CSU Spartans, and one pro-"STATE" group, Gostate, were included in the polls, their votes were nullified by the anti-CSU votes of the "AS Presidents Council" group.

The straw polls asked the following question:

Poll Background:

What is now called San Jose State is the oldest public institution of higher learning in the State of
California. The school’s original name as a state institution was the “California State Normal School”, and that name was used from 1862 until
1921. San Jose’s first name as a university was “California State University, San Jose” (from 1972 to 1974). Currently, San Jose degrees are granted by “the Trustees of the California State University at San Jose” and “recommended” by the “faculty of SJSU”. Since 2003 some San Jose students and alumni have advocated restoring the “CSU” part of the school’s identity, believing this will help make the school more prestigious and nationally recognizable and the degrees it grants more valuable by capitalizing on the school’s unique place in California history.

Poll Question:

Do you support restoration of a dual city/state identity at San Jose State by restoring the
words “California State University” to the school’s public identity in some manner (for example: “San Jose State/CSU San Jose”, or “San Jose, California State University” or “California State University, San
Jose”)?

The non-scientific poll was conducted by Gostate.org to gauge support for CSU restoration in San Jose. The CSU restoration movement in San Jose has developed a CSU restoration program to try to achieve the goal of restoring the original CSU, in San Jose, California.