Letter to the editor: ‘I challenge the Cabrillo Board to put this important issue to a community-wide vote’

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To the editor:

Many months ago I sent a letter to Lookout suggesting that Cabrillo College would end up “picking a name out of the hat that doesn’t step on anyone’s toes.” Well, here we are.

Ignoring all the local support for the name “Cabrillo” we now have blah, blah, blah, blah and unpronounceable. What can they be thinking?

I also have not seen any outreach by the Board of Trustees to local college stakeholders. To my knowledge no Cabrillo Foundation President’s Circle members — people who can and do give generously to Cabrillo — have been contacted. Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to get their thoughts before this crusade?

Apparently not, let’s just plow ahead.

What percentage of those local supporters will send their money to another valuable local cause? About 50%? Will they talk to others about pulling support? Probably. Can there possible be a successful bond issue in the future? Good luck with that.

As I said in my last letter, this is about branding and these folks seem to have not a clue about the breadth of that power. It is not something you just throw away, It will take many years and years to recover from this sort of thing.

What a shoot yourself in the foot event this has come to be.

I challenge the Cabrillo Board to put this important issue to a community-wide vote. Give us a list of name choices including Cabrillo.

Sadly, I’m pretty sure they don’t want to hear that answer. The majority couldn’t possibly be right could they? Do I hear recall in our future? That certainly happened to multiple board members on the San Francisco School Board two years ago when they weren’t listening to their community.

And, finally, remember Cabrillo College was named after the Cabrillo Highway, not a man. And then the college went on to become a community treasure. The name Cabrillo means so much in our community and is honored by more than we can imagine. (We also appear to honor the Cabrillo Highway by driving on it endlessly.)

Wayne Palmer
Aptos