Two months after the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees approved a plan to rename the institution, it is seeking proposals from the public. The decision to change the name came after several meetings and public forums that involved delving deep into the history of its namesake, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and his nefarious acts.
Efforts to rename the college began in 2021, joining the nationwide trend of institutions and businesses scrutinizing the history of their namesakes. In November, the Trustees voted 6-1 to rename the college by August 2023, with the new name taking effect by July 1, 2024.
Cabrillo was a Spanish explorer who came to the California Coast around 1542. During his explorations, he brutalized and subjugated the Amah Mutsun people already living in California. He became one of many Europeans whose exploits made their way into the history books but whose misdeeds were whitewashed, and accomplishments inflated.
The college is also looking to form a 25-member task force to help narrow the list of suggested names. The group will meet five times during the spring semester, from noon to 1:30pm starting on March 10.
“I’m happy to now be in this ideation phase of the process,” Board Chair Adam Spickler says. “Recognizing that the Board of Trustees has the final authority to select the college’s new name, the role of the Task Force will be to help the Board identify finalists for a name that will inspire a renewed sense of unity and support for our beloved college.”
The survey is open to the public through Feb. 22. College officials say the new name should reflect the college’s mission, values and community. The college said in a press release that it should not be named after a person.
To participate, visit bit.ly/3HelP9Q
Sequoia or Costanoan community college is my vote since it’s descriptive of the area without naming a specific person. I’d say redwood but there already is one.
Amah Mutsun Community College.
Give something back to everyone it was taken away from.
Amah Mutsun is my first choice
Aptos College it is the name of the native people and of the area.
New Brighton Beach College or New Brighton College
So, I guess I will change my last name from Lopez, although I’m really a Barajas to Huitzilopochtli. What are the rest of you going to do?
Don’t change the name
Read the history of how it was named
You can’t change history
How about Cabrillo School. That’s changing the name. Seriously, we’re going back to 1542! I graduated from this college with a Radiology Technologist License and a A.S. Degree. That’s what it says on all my legal paperwork. Just leave it alone!
Cabrillo actually never landed on the Central Coast of California. He hung out in San Diego and the Channel Islands. He never met any of the Amah Mutsun folks let alone brutalized and subjugated them
I too like Aptos College.
It’s located in Aptos.
The John Lewis Community College District
PLEASE if it is to be renamed ( which I am against) have it start with a C so that we do not have to change our logo on the gym floor, the football field, all of our geer in the athletic dept etc. It will cost thousands of dollars that we don’t have. We need money for upgrading the pool and fields as it is – not for changing unnecessary signage and our logo.
Mental Illness on parade.
If there is anything no lefty can resist it is flaunting their hubristic mental illness masquerading as righteousness.
I posted a comment a few hours ago. It’s long but nothing in this format stated anything regarding comment length. The management of the site may not have liked my comment but I used no foul language and did no name calling. So???
“PLEASE if it is to be renamed ( which I am against) have it start with a C so that we do not have to change our logo on the gym floor, the football field, all of our geer in the athletic dept etc. It will cost thousands of dollars that we don’t have. We need money for upgrading the pool and fields as it is – not for changing unnecessary signage and our logo.”