Proposed Name Change for Cal State Hayward

California State University, Hayward's president has sent a proposal to CSU headquarters in Long Beach to change CSUH's name to:

California State University, East Bay

The rationale is that CSUH has a second campus in Concord and a downtown center in Oakland, so it's a regional institution.

I don't know if Long Beach will approve this. Frankly, I'm surprised that the change hasn't generated more talk on campus or been more controversial. It's been kind of a stealth proposal.

Not sure if I like it. The name 'CSU Hayward' is already familiar in the Bay Area. And 'CSU East Bay' might be more apt to be confused with CSU Monterey Bay by people in remote provincial areas like New York. But CSU Hayward has always been at a disadvantage to SF State and SJ State because, well, the city of Hayward's kinda obscure, despite having almost 150,000 people.

CSUH offers a relatively affordable DL education masters degree in Online Teaching and Learning and several Degreeinfo participants are Hayward/East Bay graduates.

http://www.calstate.edu/newsline/2004/n20041008hay1.shtml

 

Bill, interesting article. I think that they should change the name if the name change better represents who it serves and is supported by alumni. I also liked the fact that changes in signs and other similar nonrecurring expenses who be covered by private donations. I can see where this might cause some confusion, but couldn't the same be said for Humboldt and Hayward? Also, they said that this is the fifth name change for this school. Make up your mind already!!

 

Another two-bit bureaucrat who likes to waste money. To change the freeway and road signs alone will cost hundreds of thousands. The campuses in Contra Costa and Oakland are relatively small when compared to the main campus in Hayward. Hayward certainly isn’t the only CSU with satellite campuses – what is the big deal?

Keep it Hayward State. Most people in California know more about Hayward than obscure places such as Cal State Stanislaus or CSU Channel Islands. (The only reason people can identify an armpit like Chico is because of the “party campus” atmosphere)

 

The Chron had an article about this a couple of weeks ago. I have mixed feelings about this one. The article mentioned that many students and faculty were against the change, feeling that money should be diverted into more tangible areas, like improving facilities, programs, faculty pay etc.

On the other hand, I understand that image means something, and that perhaps Hayward doesn't conjure the image that they like. SF State benefits from the generally positive image of San Francisco as a city. I think the school/campus reflects that. SJ State benefits from the association with Silicon Valley. Again, I think the school is a good reflection of that.

Hayward is a largely blue collar city that most don't associate with higher education. On the other hand, I'm not sure "East Bay" adds much. Though it eliminates the blue collar image, it replaces it with vagueness.

You know, I think I'm against it. I like a city in the name. I always thought it was strange that the SF Warriors became the Golden State Warriors. We have the only NBA team named for a State rather than a city. I say stick with Hayward.

 

Blue collar? How humiliating!

 

Nope. Indiana Pacers.

 

New Joisey Nets

 

Having earned my MBA from CSU, Hayward I do have an opinion, I think it should stay the same. I do not think that it makes any bigger difference than CSU, Northridge or CSU Domingues Hills (which is in Carson) named after a rather featureless rise in the ground).

 

No not at all. Honorable, in fact.

 

"Nope. Indiana Pacers.

__________________
Jon Porter (PhD Nottingham)"

Yep.

"New Joisey Nets"

And yep. Go Jason Kidd, St. Joseph's High School, Alameda CA, & UC Berkeley. I saw Kidd play as a junior in high school in a regional playoff game. Never seen such a dominant player. Absolutely mesmerizing.

I guess what I meant is that we have the only team named so vaguely, as "Golden State" isn't a State or a city.

 

Yeah. I'm a San Francisco State graduate and I really do think that the reputation of the city casts a positive glow on the university. The town is lively and creative, and the natural (and correct) assumption is that the university takes part in all that stuff.

San Jose, if it isn't exactly the brain of Silicon Valley (Palo Alto would get that honor), is certainly Silicon Valley's gut, where digestion takes place. Silicon Valley gives San Jose State a cutting edge 21'st century aura that isn't entirely misplaced either.

But Hayward... I think that it does suffer a little bit because of those kind of intangibles. In real life it's within easy commuting distance of lots of things and participates in the intellectual and cultural life of the whole region. There's some Silicon Valley in CSUH, and some Berkeley too. But the name just doesn't reflect it.

Yeah. While changing the school's name might conceivably be a good idea, don't they need to change it to something better?

I'm not sure if 'CSU East Bay' does much except replace blue-collar with totally generic blah. The East Bay is a fine place, but naming a school for a region kind of announces that it doesn't have any identity of its own.

So what else could they call it? Maybe they could name it for Mt. Diablo, the East Bay's most visible feature. 'CSU Diablo', that's kind of cool with its devil reference. It's irreverent and has a subtle alternative edge. It has kind of a Spanish and old Western thing going too.

 

Colegio del Monte Diablo--now that's cool!

As always, Bill nails it.

 

Not CSU, Alamo?! ;-)

 

Re: Re: Proposed Name Change for Cal State Hayward

How about "CSU, East San Francisco Bay," which has precedence in the name "CSU, Monterey Bay", and has some geographical meaning and halo effect?

Dave

 

I bet it ends up being referred to as Cal State EBay, leading to jokes about buying degrees online.

 

How about terminating another useless bureaucrat, keeping the name CSUH, and using the money saved to keep a few programs running.

Sounds like a plan to me.

 

And that's good because if everyone knew about CSUStan everyone would want to move to Turlock.

BTW, CSUStan has grown one of the nicest CSU campuses.

 

I guess there is truly a place for everyone in this world.

Have you ever been to El Paso?

 

Yup. And I actually like El Paso. The air drifting over from Juarez is crappy. But I like the desert. And I find the mix of cultures in a border city to be really interesting. Are you thinking of moving there. [grin]

Turlock really is a very decent place to live -- not really a tourist destination -- but a very liveable small city. And the university has grown from being the brunt of all the jokes in the system ("turkey tech") to having some outstanding programs (music, business, education...) and as I said, the campus is wonderful -- lots of green space, trees, and water -- park-like. My office is a block away and I'll often walk down there to sit next to the lake to read.

 

If there was ever a classic example of a third world city in the United States, El Paso would be it. The best part of El Paso looks like the worst part of Vallejo. I had a friend who owned a place near the base - wow - I have been to 30 states and never have been in more of an armpit. I guess the best part about El Paso is getting out of El Paso )

I am glad that you like Turlock. The campus is alright - I tend to avoid the central valley's inversion layer. Too hard on the lungs.