Cabrillo College: The Name Had to Be Neutral, By Jondi Gumz

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COMMUNITY NEWS Cabrillo College: The Name Had to Be Neutral

By Jondi Gumz

In 1954, Santa Cruz County voters were not inclined to support tax measures for education — even though all high school graduates had to leave the county to pursue a bachelor’s degree. When a bond measure to create a junior college went to voters, 70 percent said no.

So how did Santa Cruz County get a community college? Why is that college named for navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Sandy Lydon a name today’s faculty and students find objectionable because of his activities in the new world? Who vetted the name?

Sandy Lydon, who taught history at Cabrillo for more than 40 years, recounted what happened for the college’s Name Exploration Committee on April 15, a talk that is recorded on YouTube.com.

“This was a higher education desert,” he said.

Here is the history he shared:

In 1948, with World War II over, the U.S. military had surplus bases, such as Camp McQuaid on San Andreas Road in Aptos. Elsewhere, those bases were being converted to junior colleges.

Education superintendent Thomas MacQuiddy, enthusiastic about a 400-acre oceanfront property available for one dollar, formed a coalition from the three high schools in Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz and Watsonville to support the idea.

The state objected because the site wasn’t near a transportation corridor. And the county Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 against it, due to concerns about taxes.

Monterey Bay Academy, a private prep school, got the property.

The county was split because people in the north and south had different interests.

Watsonville was an agricultural town with farms and ranches. About 200 high school grads a year went to Hartnell College in Salinas.

Santa Cruz was a manufacturing area, the Wrigley plant was the new place to work, and city leaders wanted to attract a University of California campus, but without a junior college, that would be difficult.

So, they rallied support for a junior college bond measure in 1958, winning with a 66 percent yes vote.

There were two very important conditions: The name of this junior college had to be neutral — nothing to do with Pajaro Valley, nothing to do with Santa Cruz — and the location had to be midway between Santa Cruz and Watsonville.

The vote came on the heels of Legislature in 1957 declaring Highway 1 to be “Cabrillo Highway.”

Signs reminded locals of this.

“Neutral Name” page 10