Reader’s catch reveals story of San Diego State’s name change

The names SDSU, San Diego State and San Diego State University probably appear every day in the Union-tribune. But the university, whose stature in the region keeps growing, was not always called SDSU. The year of its name change, brought up in a U-T story, caught a reader’s eye last week.

An A1 article last Sunday about President John F. Kennedy’s visit to the campus in 1963 mentioned that the school’s name was switched to San Diego State University in 1970. That was wrong, Don Jones from Vista said in an email to the readers’ rep. Jones, an alumnus, is correct, and he pointed out the name change was more complicated than most residents probably think.

The original name was San Diego State Teachers College, dating to 1921. Later it became San Diego State College.

But did you know the school’s official name for two years in the 1970s was California State University, San Diego?

“It still doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue,” Jeff Ristine, a deputy editor and communications specialist at SDSU, wrote in a wonderful article last year on the name change.

He described the name as “the disgraced relative never mentioned at family reunions. The airbrushed photograph where a historic figure has mysteriously vanished.”

Jones, though, remembers that name, in fact he’s reminded of it every day. “I received my MBA ... in June 1972, and the diploma that hangs on the wall has California State University, San Diego across the top.”

He said that after the name was dropped and the university became SDSU, the school offered an updated diploma to alumni. Jones said he decided to keep his original. “I had mine perma-plaqued at some expense, and didn’t feel like doing it a second time. Occasionally it is a conversation starter when someone reads it closely.”

The name was switched to the familiar one we know today of San Diego State University in 1974 — not 1970.

Ristine’s article says San Diego State College became California State University, San Diego, on June 1, 1972.

“Stories from the time say it was Glenn Dumke, the first CSU chancellor, who insisted on uniformity in the names of all campuses designated as universities, with the city at the end,” wrote Ristine, a former Union-tribune reporter.

The new name was immediately disliked. It had been called San Diego State for short for decades, after all.

In fact, get a load of this from Ristine’s piece:

“The Daily Aztec completely rebuffed California State University, San Diego, announcing at the beginning of the fall 1972 semester that it would use San Diego State University in all articles (and even its frontpage logo). It encouraged readers to do likewise.

“Associated Students similarly disregarded the official name.

“The ‘Underground Campaign for Creative Vandalism’ repeatedly carried out nighttime raids rearranging the letters on redwood signs to spell out the preferred name.”

Larry Kapiloff, a state Assembly member, introduced a bill to rename the San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco and Humboldt campuses according to what locals like, Ristine wrote. San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson backed it.

Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the bill on Sept. 9, 1973, Ristine wrote, and Jan. 1, 1974, the law took effect. Goodbye California State University, San Diego; hello SDSU.

adrian.vore@sduniontribune.com