The Curse of the Name Change

Today at the Hayward Hills Campus of California State University, East Bay a campus wide power outage occured at about 9:20 AM. I was in my Basic Piano class doing a little bit of practice on the electronic keyboard, then all of a sudden I couldn't hear anything nor see anything. We lost power. At the same time there was a gas leak at the University Union. All on the first day after the name change. Coincidence?

I now feel a pain many an Angels fan has. To see something you love sell its name out for more money, ad revenue for the baseball team and endowment funds and grants for the university. Both our names were changed to support a new "regional identity" the Greater Los Angeles Area for the Halos and the Greater East Bay for the Pioneers. We were both not consulted about the change and are hurt by it. I feel that I have been slapped in the face by an uncaring administration in their ivory tower...maybe that's why Warren Hall, the administration building is nicknamed "the Tower."

Also, why spend $200K on new signs, stationery, sports uniforms, web domain, logo, etc. when there are budget cuts facing every academic department? Last year there was a 70% cut in the Music Department budget. We are a university, money is supposed to be spent on educaton, not marketing. This is truly absurd.

I hope this name change will backfire on the school, just like I hope the Angels change will backfire on them too. I have nothing against Angels fans, and my hatred of the Halos was often confined to a mild dislike of a division rival. Now, I truly hate the team and the organization for their betrayal of the community that hosts them and the fan base that supports them. The fans are still OK in my book, and I do feel your pain.

After five years at Cal State, I bought my first Hayward sweatshirt. I will wear it as a sign of protest.

LAAoA, meet CSUEB-HHC.

You can probably tell that when I graduate I will not be joining the Alumni Association and will not donate a cent to the school, they don't need me . I'm sure they'll probably get millions from corporate sponsors that are glad to donate to a school that is in no way linked to the "ghetto" city of Hayward. I just hope my sarcasm carries over the internet.