There is a sense of disconnect at Cal State Long Beach.
And that’s not referring to the school’s commuter reputation, but the list of names used to label it.
The university goes by Cal State Long Beach for academic purposes, while using Long Beach State for reference to its NCAA athletic programs. It is time to pick one name and stick with it so The Beach can be on even ground in both areas.
One possible option is to change the school’s official name to Long Beach State University. Such a name change would allow The Beach to distinguish itself from the other CSUs in the Southland and not come off as just some cookie-cutter satellite campus.
The 49er men’s basketball team hosts the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. Does anyone who follows Beach athletics closely want to be confused with a Division II school?
With two other schools in the Big West Conference going by the Cal State name — Fullerton and Northridge — there remains the chance that one would get mixed up with the other. The Dec. 5 edition of the Los Angeles Times erroneously listed Long Beach State as a Stephen F. Austin opponent when it was really Cal State Fullerton who was scheduled to play SFA.
When a local newspaper of the L.A. Times’ stature mistakes LBSU for another area CSU, it shows that those looking from the outside see little distinction between one campus and the other.
The Associated Students Senate proposed changing the university’s name to Long Beach State University in 1995, but those plans never came into fruition.
The name Long Beach State rolls off the tongue in a way that Fullerton State, Northridge State and Dominguez Hills State never will, so making this change will allow the university to seize an opportunity for branding that other local Cal States cannot.
Another name I’d like to throw out there is the University of Long Beach. This moniker would abandon the phrase “State” altogether and truly establish The Beach as its own university.
Although it seems like an extreme alteration at first, this would not be the first name-change of its kind. The University of Memphis went by West Tennessee Normal School during its inception in 1912.
The school has also gone by West Tennessee State Teachers College (1925), Memphis State College (1941) and Memphis State University (1957) before settling on its current name in 1994.
The university’s men’s basketball team also enjoys widespread support throughout the Memphis community. The Tigers routinely outdraw the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies despite sharing FedEx Forum as a home court, attracting an average of 16,933 fans per game last season compared to the Grizzlies’ league-low mark of 12,117 through nine home dates this season.
As is the case with Memphis, changing CSULB’s name to the University of Long Beach could be a major step in establishing a closer tie between the school and the local community.
Dropping the words “California” and “State” could make the city of Long Beach feel like it has its own college, and ultimately, establish the university as a symbol of civic pride in a city often overshadowed by its big brother, Los Angeles.
Given the much more pressing issues the university faces right now, such as the budget crisis, urging the school to address an issue such as changing its name might seem trivial.
As a Long Beach native though, it would be nice to have a school we can call our own.