The administration building at California State University–San Marcos, which is named for the campus’s founder, the late former state Sen. William A. Craven, will be renamed after the university system’s board of trustees approved the change.
The decision was made last month after the board received a report from a task force—commissioned in 2021 by the campus’s president, Ellen J. Neufeldt—recommended the change.
Neufeldt had charged the task force to consider similar name changes at other universities, to evaluate the words and actions of Craven, and to consider the potential effects of continuing to associate his name and likeness with the campus.
According to the task force’s report on the issue, Craven suggested that all public schools in San Diego County make a count of suspected undocumented students using public services, and had made an insensitive remark regarding illegal immigrants during a hearing on border issues in 1993.
“There will be a lot of people who disagree with what I’m going to say and it is just a thought that I had. It is not a philosophy. It seems rather strange that we go out of our way to take care of the rights of these individuals who are perhaps on the lower scale of our humanity for one reason or another … and we really spend a lot of time and, obviously a lot of money, to discommode the people who pick up the tab to take care of the people that the law seems to favor,” he said at the time.
His remark was made during a seven-hour-long Senate hearing which included testimony from California residents, as well as heads of government agencies explaining the adverse effects they had suffered as a result of the large inflow of illegal immigrants.
At the time, Craven was criticized for his comments, which some saw as racist.
In response, however, he said that the comment was taken out of context amid a larger discussion and that he was only talking about the economic status of undocumented immigrants, according to the task force’s report.
Craven was remembered after his death in 1999 by former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego), who called him a “courageous political leader” with a “tremendous commitment to public service” who had represented the citizens of San Diego County for more than a quarter-century.
“However, it is his many accomplishments as a California state senator that will ensure his legacy,” Cunningham said at the time addressing the U.S. Congress. “The crown jewel of those accomplishments was the successful establishment of California State University–San Marcos.”
The building will be temporarily renamed Administration Building until a working group recommends a new moniker, school officials said.
