Santa Ana : City Council to Fight College’s Name Change

The city is preparing to fight last month’s decision of the governing board of Santa Ana College to change the name of the 70-year-old institution to Rancho Santiago College.

The City Council this week voted 6 to 1 to formally oppose the name change, and Mayor Daniel E. Griset will express that sentiment in writing to the college and the Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees.

“It’s ludicrous for an institution that’s been in the city for 70 years to suddenly be deprived of its name,” said City Manager Robert C. Bobb.

Laurie Cottrell, the city’s director of marketing and communications, said she will contact officials at El Don , the college newspaper, to urge them to join the fight against the change.

The college has 22,000 full- and part-time students and another 8,000 in the adult education program. A recent poll indicated that the student body is overwhelmingly opposed to the name change, with 374 students against the change and only five favoring it, according to student government president David Troublefield. The student senate also voted 11 to 1 against the change.

At the board meeting in which the change was voted, 35 people spoke in opposition.

College officials said the idea was proposed because the institution covers a larger area than Santa Ana. “The main reason . . . is the opening of our Orange Canyon campus (in Orange ) next fall,” said Donna Hatchett, the college’s public information officer. “We felt a name change would show that our college includes several more cities than Santa Ana.”

City official Cottrell said she hopes to rally the entire community to support the council position, with a goal of persuading the trustees to reconsider their decision.

“We want them to know that Santa Ana College is the appropriate name for the fine educational institution in our city,” she said.

The district serves the cities of Santa Ana, Orange and Villa Park, a portion of Garden Grove and the Anaheim Hills area. Besides Santa Ana College, the district operates a smaller campus in Garden Grove, and a third campus in Orange Canyon is scheduled to open this fall.