Cabrillo College subcommittee recommends delaying name change until at least 2028

A Cabrillo College subcommittee is recommending that the school scrap its name-change plans this year and put off any further renaming discussion until 2028, saying the process has become too divisive.

In a recommendation published Thursday afternoon to the college’s governing board agenda, the board’s Name Exploration Subcommittee, made up of trustees Christina Cuevas and Adam Spickler, called for not changing “the name of the college at this time, deferring any discussion of a name change to no sooner than 2028.”

The board is set to vote on the recommendation during its regular meeting Monday evening.

At a contentious Aug. 7 meeting, board members voted by a 6-1 majority to pause their selection of a new name for the college, citing the divisiveness of the name-change process in the community. The board voted for the temporary pause to allow time for the Name Exploration Subcommittee to come up with a new recommendation.

In the latest recommendation from Spickler and Cuevas, they wrote that they understand the opposition to the name change.

“Since the August 7 Governing Board Meeting, we have determined that the sole focus on changing the name of the college has made it difficult for many people to consider that the name of our college causes harm for some in our community,” they wrote. “We discussed how to move forward in a way that reduces the divisions this has caused within our college’s region and helps unify the community around the college and the good that it does for all in our district.”

Along with recommending that the college defer its name-change decision for more than four years, the subcommittee also recommended Thursday that the college end its existing Name Exploration Subcommittee’s work and establish a new subcommittee Oct. 2.

The new subcommittee would make recommendations to the board about implementing programs to support Indigenous students and their education, as well as supporting Native American studies at the college.

Suggestions include creating an annual Native American studies lecture series, establishing a faculty position in Indigenous and Native American studies and starting a multicultural center to include Indigenous and Native American studies.

The committee also called on the governing board to explicitly disassociate “with Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and the immoral acts he committed.”

In November 2022, the college’s board voted to change the school’s name following a two-year exploration by the subcommittee.

The college’s eponym, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, was a 16th-century explorer who served in the armies of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés — who brought down the Mexica Empire (also known as the Aztec Empire). He also grew his wealth off of the enslavement of Native people who worked land in Guatemala, whom he was given through the Spanish encomienda system.

In the months following its November decision, the board subcommittee created a Name Selection Task Force to help narrow down a list of potential new name candidates. However, when the task force met for its final meeting to select a name, many said they were surprised by the divisiveness of the renaming.

While the majority of the task force, made up of a group of 24 community members, felt renaming was the right decision, they told the subcommittee they felt right now wasn’t the right time. The subcommittee then brought a recommendation to the board’s August meeting to delay renaming the selection of a new name.

During that August meeting, members of the public spoke for more than two hours, stating their reasons for or against changing the name.

The governing board then voted 6-1 to delay the vote and to receive a new process and timeline recommendation by the November meeting. Board member Steve Trujillo was the only trustee to vote against delaying the name selection.

The meeting will take place in person at the Aptos campus and virtually, starting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

Cabrillo College renaming: Find Lookout’s continuing news and opinion coverage here

Cabrillo College renaming: Find Lookout’s continuing news and opinion coverage here

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Lookout coverage of efforts to rename Cabrillo College.

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