Quick Take
The public will be able to learn about the list of five potential new names for Cabrillo College at meetings on June 14 at the college’s Aptos campus, June 28 at the Watsonville campus and July 12 at Scotts Valley City Hall.
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A Cabrillo College task force has narrowed a list of potential new names for the college from 350 down to just five. But Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein said those names won’t be revealed to the public until the first of three community forums starting next month.
The public will be able to learn about the shortlist of names at meetings on June 14 at the college’s Aptos campus, June 28 at the Watsonville campus and July 12 at Scotts Valley City Hall. The meetings will be held in person from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and won’t be livestreamed.
Cabrillo’s name selection task force, made up of 24 community members, selected the shortlist of names Friday at its fourth meeting.
Wetstein said he’s happy with the options the task force has proposed and that he has a couple of favorites, though he wouldn’t reveal which ones. “I was really impressed with how tuned-in the members of the task force were to the complexities” of the process, Wetstein said.
A trademark attorney is currently researching whether there are conflicts with the five proposed names. For example, the attorney is checking if there are any businesses that have the same name or a similar name, and if they do, if they have an issue with the college potentially taking the name. Wetstein said he wasn’t sure when that review will be completed, but it wouldn’t be long.
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As for the community forums, Wetstein said he’ll be there alongside governing board members Christina Cuevas and Adam Spickler. Cuevas and Spickler make up the subcommittee that has been leading the name exploration process since 2020, and also facilitating the name selection task force.
At the forums, Wetstein said they’ll likely have each of the five names on a large poster board so participants can see them clearly. Participants will have 15 to 20 minutes to write notes on post-its about each of the names and then post them on the boards.
A discussion about the names with Cuevas, Spickler and Wetstein will follow. Members of the name selection task force will also likely attend the meetings.
Following the community forums, the name selection task force will have its final meeting July 28. At that meeting, it will discuss the feedback from the community and then decide what to recommend to the college’s governing board. The recommendation will be published the Thursday before the governing board’s Aug. 7 meeting — when the board is scheduled to vote on a new name.
Wetstein said it’s possible that the task force recommends more than one name for the governing board to consider.
Cuevas said she doesn’t have any favorites at the moment, but is happy with the process the name selection task force took to get to this point.
“It’s been very thoughtful in terms of thinking about what will really be attractive and acceptable to the whole county or the whole district that we serve — and represent where we are located,” she said.
