On Oct. 14, six of the seven elected Cabrillo College trustees voted to accept the board subcommittee’s recommendation to change the name of Cabrillo College, chosen when the junior college was founded in 1959.
Trustee Rachael Spencer voted no.
The rest of the trustees set a goal of selecting a new name by the August 2023 meeting, and beginning to use the new name on July 1, 2024.
The subcommittee was formed in July 2020, in response to a request to rename the college, amidst widespread social unrest in the United States and a reappraisal of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator who was the first to visit California and made his fortune in Guatemala, with the help of indigenous people enslaved to work in his farms, mines and on his ships.
The Committee recommended, and the Board agreed that a new name should either be rooted in Cabrillo’s values or a geographic touchstone — not honoring an individual.
The board directed the subcommittee and College President Matthew Wetstein to work on fundraising to address cost concerns surrounding a name change, while seeking input on a new name.
When the issue first arose, it was estimated that name change could cost $1 million. Further study found it could be accomplished for $500,000.
This decision follows a two-year process of research, community education, surveys, opportunities for community input, and community dialogue, all initiated by the subcommittee, which created a Name Exploration Advisory Task Force to help solicit stakeholder input; develop community engagement strategies; and examine the costs and resource implications of a name change.
“In reaching its recommendation, the Board Name Exploration Subcommittee adhered to its core principles of aligning with the mission of being critical thinkers; ensuring we did the kind of deep critical thinking that is expected of an institution of higher education,” said Christina Cuevas, who chaired the subcommittee.
She added, “We conducted rigorous outreach to ensure all voices, demographics and perspectives had an opportunity to receive the information and voice an opinion, and prioritized historically underrepresented and emerging student populations. This was an incredibly thorough and academically rigorous process, and I feel like all involved learned something significant about the namesake of Cabrillo College.”
Donna Ziel, who chairs the Cabrillo governing board and was re-elected on Nov. 8, said that the board decided “the right action at the time is to change the name.”
She added, “As stated in the report, the harm caused by colonial expansion is real and it is a harm that represents trans-generational trauma to this day. As many people pointed out during the community dialogues, now that we know the name Cabrillo does continuing harm to members of the College’s public, we have a responsibility to correct that harm.”
Trustee Adam Spickler said, “I’m really proud of the education and outreach effort that the College engaged in and I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to have strong community input moving forward, as we work to select a new name for this great College.’
The other trustees are Felipe Hernandez, Dan Rothwell and Steve Trujillo.
The student trustee this year is Devine Hardy.
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To read the Board Name Exploration Subcommittee Report, please visit: www.cabrillo.edu.