Students and faculty believe that the Board of Trustees rushed in making the new name for the PCC campus, which is now called Trade Tech and Community Learning Campus.
The Board of Trustees gave everyone an option of names to choose from with surveys, but yet with those two names, neither of them made the cut.
Even with the two names given as options, the board could not come to a consensus, so they instead combined the two names together to create a third option that would appeal to everyone.
The name they settled on does not seem authentic or representative, the way that the name “Liberal Arts campus” sounds.
If they had put in more time with the name options given to us, then the name would have felt more developed, catchy and simple.
Many of the students and faculty from PCC emphasized to the board that they did not feel represented or involved with the decision process.
The new name having the words “trade” and “tech” doesn’t really reside or represent the campus itself.
This is because the name can be misleading, making it sound as though the PCC campus only offers specific technology classes when that is not the case.
The name makes the concept of the word “community” seem tacked on, as if it was an afterthought to Trade and Tech.
During the board meeting, trustees shared that the reason they wanted to decide on a new name immediately was because of preparation for PCC’s 75th anniversary.
If they delayed the time of deciding the new name, then it would have interrupted the marketing and promotion of the campus.
This shows that the decision to change the name was not properly prioritized the way we hoped it would.
Students and faculty need to be bigger parts of decisions like these.
The college’s board needs to reach out to its students, faculty and the residents of Long Beach and maintain that communication with them to rethink this decision, rather than making this rushed decision that many seem unhappy with.