San Diego

The renaming of UC San Diego’s Third College for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be proposed to campus governing authorities, it was announced Tuesday.

The college, one of five that make up the undergraduate program at UCSD, was established in 1970 out of the caldron of 1960s political activism, with the goal of setting a more socially conscious academic agenda for students. The current name reflects the college’s position as the third established at UCSD, after Revelle and Muir colleges.

Third College Provost Cecil Lytle, who oversees the curriculum requirements for the college’s 3,000 students, has been eager for a name change to symbolize more closely the college’s academic philosophy.

The selection of King’s name resulted from several months of meetings among students and faculty associated with the college, and after students selected the name of the slain civil rights leader during an advisory vote during student elections last month.

The recommendation will now go to a university committee that advises UCSD Chancellor Richard C. Atkinson on names for all campus buildings and programs. Should Atkinson approve the change, he will submit King’s name to the statewide UC Board of Regents for final approval.