Editing California State University (section)

== History ==
=== State Normal Schools ===
[[File:California State Normal School, San Jose LCCN2003681544.tif|thumb|The [[California State Normal School]], founded in 1862 in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], (today's [[San Jose State University]]) is the oldest campus of the CSU system.]]
Today's California State University system is the direct descendant of the [[Minns Evening Normal School]], founded in 1857 by [[George W. Minns]] in [[San Francisco]]. It was a [[normal school]], an institution that educated future teachers in association with the [[High school (North America)|high school]] system and the first of its kind in California.

The school was taken over by the state in 1862 and moved to [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] and renamed the [[California State Normal School]]; it eventually evolved into [[San Jose State University]].<ref name="Gerth1">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=5–9}}</ref> A southern branch of the California State Normal School was created in Los Angeles in 1882.<ref name="Gerth2">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=10–11}}</ref> In 1887, the [[California State Legislature]] dropped the word California from the name of the San Jose and Los Angeles schools, renaming them State Normal Schools.
[[File:Kendall Hall as seen from Laxson Auditorium-01006.jpg|thumb|right|The [[California State Normal School|Northern Branch of the State Normal School]], founded 1887, became [[California State University, Chico]].]]
Later, other state normal schools were founded at Chico (1887) and San Diego (1897); they did not form a system in the modern sense, in that each normal school had its own board of trustees and all were governed independently from one another.<ref name="Douglass_Page_137">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=137}}</ref><ref name="Gerth3">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=11–26}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century, the State Normal School in San Jose was graduating roughly 130 teachers a year and was "one of the best known normal schools in the West."<ref>{{cite book |title=Where to educate, 1898–1899. A guide to the best private schools, higher institutions of learning, etc., in the United States |last=Thomas |first=Grace Powers |year=1898 |publisher=Brown and Company |location=Boston |page=17 |accessdate=August 17, 2012 |url=https://archive.org/stream/wheretoeducate1800thomrich#page/17/mode/1up}}</ref>

In 1919, the State Normal School at Los Angeles became the Southern Branch of the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]]; in 1927, it became the [[University of California, Los Angeles|University of California at Los Angeles]].<ref name="Gerth4">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=26–30}}</ref>

=== State Teachers Colleges ===
[[File:The American system of agricultural education (1904) (17973269710) (cropped).jpg|thumb|The [[California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo#History|California Polytechnic School]], established in 1901, eventually became today's [[California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo]].]]
In May 1921, the legislature enacted a comprehensive reform package for the state's educational system, which went into effect that July.<ref name="Gerth5">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=31–32}}</ref> The State Normal Schools were renamed State Teachers Colleges, their boards of trustees were dissolved, and they were brought under the supervision of the Division of Normal and Special Schools of the new [[California Department of Education]] located at the state capital in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]].<ref name="Gerth5" /> This meant that they were to be managed from Sacramento by the deputy director of the division, who in turn was subordinate to the [[California State Superintendent of Public Instruction|State Superintendent of Public Instruction]] (the ''ex officio'' director of the Department of Education) and the [[California State Board of Education|State Board of Education]]. By this time it was already commonplace to refer to most of the campuses with their city names plus the word "state" (e.g., "San Jose State," "San Diego State," "San Francisco State").
[[File:StateNormalSchool1915 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|San Diego [[California State Normal School|State Normal School]], founded 1897, became [[History of San Diego State University|San Diego State Teacher's College]] in 1923 (and eventually [[San Diego State University]]).]]
The resulting administrative situation from 1921 to 1960 was quite complicated. On the one hand, the Department of Education's actual supervision of the presidents of the State Teachers Colleges was minimal, which translated into substantial autonomy when it came to day-to-day operations.<ref name="Gerth6">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=xxi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v4J-QwAACAAJ&q=leonard+finance}}</ref> According to [[Clark Kerr]], [[J. Paul Leonard]], the president of San Francisco State from 1945 to 1957, once boasted that "he had the best college presidency in the United States—no organized faculty, no organized student body, no organized alumni association, and...no board of trustees."<ref name="ClarkKerr1">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|pages=176–177|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA176}}</ref> On the other hand, the State Teachers Colleges were treated under state law as ordinary [[Government of California|state government]] agencies, which meant their budgets were subject to the same stifling bureaucratic financial controls as all other state agencies (except the University of California).<ref name="Gerth6" /> At least one president would depart his state college because of his express frustration over that issue: Leonard himself.<ref name="Gerth6" /> (One of the lasting legacies of this era is that Cal State employees, like other state employees (but not UC or local government employees) are still paid by the [[California State Controller|state controller]] and receive their [[Employee benefits|employment]] and [[Pension|retirement benefits]] from [[CalPERS]].)

During the 1920s and 1930s, the State Teachers Colleges started to evolve from normal ''schools'' (that is, [[Vocational education in the United States|vocational schools]] narrowly focused on training [[Elementary school (United States)|elementary school]] teachers in how to impart basic [[literacy]] to young children) into teachers ''colleges'' (that is, providing a full [[liberal arts education]]) whose graduates would be fully qualified to teach all [[K–12]] grades.<ref name="Gerth7">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=23–24, 33–35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v4J-QwAACAAJ&q=liberal%20arts%20mclane}}</ref> A leading proponent of this idea was Charles McLane, the first president of Fresno State, who was one of the earliest persons to argue that K–12 teachers must have a broad liberal arts education.<ref name="Gerth7" />  Having already founded Fresno Junior College in 1907 (now [[Fresno City College]]), McLane arranged for Fresno State to co-locate with the junior college and to synchronize schedules so teachers-in-training could take liberal arts courses at the junior college.<ref name="Gerth7" />  San Diego and San Jose followed Fresno in expanding their academic programs beyond traditional teacher training.<ref name="Douglass_Page_139">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=139}}</ref> These developments had the "tacit approval" of the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, but had not been expressly authorized by the board and also lacked express statutory authorization from the state legislature.<ref name="Douglass_Page_139" />

=== State Colleges ===
[[File:W.K. Kellogg old stables at Cal Poly Pomona.png|thumb|Founded in 1938, the southern campus of the California State Polytechnic School became the independent [[California State Polytechnic University, Pomona]] in 1966.]]
In 1932, the [[Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]] was asked by the state legislature and governor to perform a study of California higher education.<ref name="Gerth7" /> The so-called "Suzzallo Report" (after the Foundation's president, [[Henry Suzzallo]]) sharply criticized the State Teachers Colleges for their intrusion upon UC's liberal arts prerogative<ref name="SuzzalloReport_Page_44">{{cite book |last1=The Commission of Seven |title=State Higher Education in California: Report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching |date=1932 |publisher=California State Printing Office |location=Sacramento |pages=44–48 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb9r29p2g2;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00021&toc.depth=1&toc.id=div00019&brand=oac4 |access-date=9 August 2022}}</ref> and recommended their transfer to the [[Regents of the University of California]] (who would be expected to put them back in their proper place).<ref name="Gerth7" /><ref name="SuzzalloReport_Page_22">{{cite book |last1=The Commission of Seven |title=State Higher Education in California: Report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching |date=1932 |publisher=California State Printing Office |location=Sacramento |pages=22–25 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb9r29p2g2;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00016&toc.depth=1&toc.id=div00015&brand=oac4 |access-date=9 August 2022}}</ref> This recommendation spectacularly backfired when the faculties and administrations of the State Teachers Colleges rallied to protect their independence from the Regents.<ref name="Gerth7" /> In 1935, the State Teachers Colleges were formally upgraded by the state legislature to State Colleges and were expressly authorized to offer a full four-year liberal arts curriculum, culminating in bachelor's degrees, but they remained under the Department of Education.<ref name="Gerth7" />
[[File:Golden bear (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|[[California State University Maritime Academy]] was founded in 1929 as the California Nautical School.]]
During [[World War II]], a group of local [[Santa Barbara County, California|Santa Barbara]] leaders and business promoters (with the acquiescence of college administrators) were able to convince the state legislature and governor to transfer [[University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara State College]] to the University of California in 1944.<ref name="Gerth8">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=39}}</ref> After losing a ''second'' campus to UC, the state colleges' supporters arranged for the [[Constitution of California|California state constitution]] to be amended in 1946 to prevent it from happening again.<ref name="Gerth8" />
The period after World War II brought a great expansion in the number of state colleges.  Additional state colleges were established in Los Angeles, [[California State University, Sacramento|Sacramento]], and [[Long Beach]] from 1947 to 1949, and then seven more state colleges were authorized to be established between 1957 and 1960. Six more state colleges were founded after the enactment of the Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960, bringing the total number to 23.

=== California State Colleges ===
[[File:Homecoming in the 1940's at Cal State LA.jpg|thumb|[[California State University, Los Angeles]] was founded in 1947.]]
[[File:View of the Sacramento State College campus site, 1947.gif|thumb|right|Aerial view of the future campus of [[California State University, Sacramento]], founded in 1947.]]

During the 1950s, the state colleges' peculiar mix of fiscal centralization and operational decentralization began to look rather incongruous in comparison to the highly centralized University of California (then on the brink of its own decentralization project) and the highly decentralized local school districts around the state which operated K–12 schools and junior colleges—all of which enjoyed much more autonomy from the rest of the state government than the state colleges.  In particular, several of the state college presidents had come to strongly dislike the State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Roy E. Simpson, whom the presidents felt were too deferential to the University of California.  Five state college presidents led the movement in the late 1950s for more autonomy from the state government: [[Glenn Dumke]] at San Francisco State (who had succeeded Leonard in 1957), Arnold Joyal at Fresno State, John T. Wahlquist at San Jose State, [[Julian A. McPhee]] at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and [[Malcolm Love]] at San Diego State.<ref name="Douglass_Page_252">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=252}}</ref>  They had three main objectives: (1) a systemwide board independent of the rest of the state government; (2) the right to award professional degrees in engineering and the doctorate in the field of education;<ref name="Douglass_Page_252" /> and (3) state funding for research at the state college level.<ref name="Douglass_Page_253">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=253}}</ref>

The state legislature was limited to merely suggesting locations to the UC Board of Regents for the [[University of California, Santa Cruz|planned UC campus on the Central Coast]].<ref name="Stadtman_Pages412413">{{cite book|last1=Stadtman|first1=Verne A.|title=The University of California, 1868–1968|url=https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad|url-access=registration|date=1970|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/universityofcali00stad/page/412 412–413]}}</ref> In contrast, because the state colleges lacked autonomy, they were vulnerable to [[pork barrel]] politics in the state legislature.  As early as 1932, the Suzzallo Report had noted that "the establishing of State teachers colleges has been partly the product of geographic-political considerations rather than of thoughtful determination of needs".<ref name="SuzzalloReport_Page_55">{{cite book |last1=The Commission of Seven |title=State Higher Education in California: Report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching |date=1932 |publisher=California State Printing Office |location=Sacramento |page=55 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb9r29p2g2;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00021&toc.depth=1&toc.id=div00019&brand=oac4 |access-date=9 August 2022}}</ref> In 1959 alone, state legislators introduced separate bills to individually create nineteen state colleges.  Two years earlier, one bill that had actually passed had resulted in the creation of [[California State University, Stanislaus|a new state college]] in [[Turlock, California|Turlock]], a town better known for its [[Turkey (bird)|turkeys]] than its aspirations towards higher education, and which made no sense except that the chair of the Senate Committee on Education happened to be from Turlock.<ref name="ClarkKerr2">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=174|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA174}}</ref>

In April 1960, the [[California Master Plan for Higher Education]] and the resulting Donahoe Higher Education Act finally granted autonomy to the state colleges.  The Donahoe Act merged all the state colleges into the State College System of California, severed them from the Department of Education (and also the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction), and authorized the appointment of a systemwide board of trustees and a systemwide chancellor.  The board was initially known as the "Trustees of the State College System of California"; the word "board" was not part of the official name.  In March 1961, the state legislature renamed the system to the California State Colleges (CSC) and the board became the "Trustees of the California State Colleges."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ1MAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA540 Cal. Stats., 1961 reg. sess., ch. 12, pp. 540–571].</ref>

As enacted, the Donahoe Act provides that UC "shall be the primary state-supported academic agency for [[research]]" and "has the sole authority in public higher education to award the doctoral degree in all fields of learning".<ref name="section66010.4">[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&sectionNum=66010.4. California Education Code Section 66010.4].</ref>  In contrast, CSU may only award the doctoral degree as part of a joint program with UC or "independent institutions of higher education" and is authorized to conduct research "in support of" its mission, which is to provide "undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree."<ref name="section66010.4" />  This language reflects the intent of UC President Kerr and his allies to bring order to "a state of anarchy"—in particular, the state colleges' repeated attempts (whenever they thought UC was not looking) to quietly blossom into full-fledged [[Research university|research universities]], as was occurring elsewhere with other state colleges like [[Michigan State University|Michigan State]].<ref name="ClarkKerr2" />

[[File:CSU Fullerton.jpg|thumb|[[California State University, Fullerton]] was established in 1957.]]

Kerr explained in his memoirs: "The state did not need a higher education system where every component was intent on being another [[Harvard University|Harvard]] or [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] or [[Stanford University|Stanford]]."<ref name="ClarkKerr3">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=178|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA178}}</ref>  As he saw it, the problem with such "[[mission creep|academic drift]]" was that state resources would be spread too thin across too many universities, all would be too busy chasing the "holy grail of elite research status" (in that state college faculty members would inevitably demand reduced teaching loads to make time for research) for any of them to fulfill the state colleges' traditional role of training teachers, and then "some new colleges would have to be founded" to take up that role.<ref name="ClarkKerr3" /> At the time, California already had too many research universities; it had only 9 percent of the American population but 15 percent of the research universities (12 out of 80).<ref name="ClarkKerr4">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=184|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA184}}</ref>  The language about joint programs and authorizing the state colleges to conduct some research was offered by Kerr at the last minute on December 18, 1959, as a "sweetener" to secure the consent of a then-wavering Dumke, the state colleges' representative on the Master Plan survey team.<ref name="ClarkKerr5">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=181|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA181}}</ref>

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[[File:CSU San Bernardino 1970.png|thumb|[[California State University, San Bernardino]] was founded in 1965.]]

Dumke reluctantly agreed to Kerr's terms only because he knew the alternative was worse.  If the state colleges could not reach a deal with UC, the California legislature was likely to be caught up in the "superboard" fad then sweeping through state legislatures across the United States.<ref name="Douglass_Page_295">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=295}}</ref>  A "superboard" was a state board of higher education with plenary authority over all public higher education in the state—the number of states with superboards went from 16 in 1939 to 33 by 1969.<ref name="Douglass_Page_314">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=314}}</ref>  Dumke was determined to prevent UC and the state legislature from reducing the state colleges to mere UC "satellites", the dark fate they had narrowly escaped in 1935.<ref name="Douglass_Page_296" /> At the outset of negotiations, Wahlquist had already shot down Kerr's suggestion of the "Santa Barbara route", because the state colleges were well aware that [[History of the University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara had languished]] under the Board of Regents' mismanagement for 15 years.<ref name="ClarkKerr1" />  Kerr never attempted to reformulate his proposal as a threat, but the specter of his "unstated threat" haunted the state colleges for the remainder of the negotiations.<ref name="Douglass_Page_292">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=292}}</ref>  At least under Kerr's terms the state colleges would finally have their own systemwide board, and to Dumke, that was the most important thing.<ref name="Douglass_Page_296" />  To ensure this compromise at the core of the Master Plan would stay intact through the legislative process, it was agreed that the entire package could be enacted only if the state legislature, the State Board of Education, and the UC Board of Regents all agreed with its two main components: (1) the joint doctorate and (2) the new board for the state colleges.<ref name="Douglass_Page_296">{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=John Aubrey |title=The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3189-8 |page=296}}</ref>

Most state college presidents and approximately 95 percent of state college faculty members (at the nine campuses where polls were held) strongly disagreed with the Master Plan's express endorsement of UC's primary role with respect to research and the doctorate, but they were still subordinate to the State Board of Education.<ref name="ClarkKerr6">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA182}}</ref>  In January 1960, Louis Heilbron was elected as the new chair of the State Board of Education.<ref name="ClarkKerr7">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=181|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA181}}</ref>  A [[UC Berkeley School of Law|Berkeley]]-trained attorney, Heilbron had already revealed his loyalty to his [[alma mater]] by joking that UC's ownership of the doctorate ought to be protected from "[[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|unreasonable search and seizure]]."<ref name="ClarkKerr7" /> He worked with Kerr to get the Master Plan's recommendations enacted in the form of the Donahoe Act, which was signed into state law on April 27, 1960.<ref name="ClarkKerr6" />

Heilbron went on to serve as the first chairman of the Trustees of the California State Colleges (1960–1963), where he had to "rein in some of the more powerful campus presidents," improve the smaller and weaker campuses, and get all campuses accustomed to being managed for the first time as a system.<ref name="Nelson">{{cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Valerie J. |title=Louis H. Heilbron, 99; headed first Cal State trustees board |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-01-me-heilbron1-story.html |access-date=October 19, 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 1, 2007}}</ref>  Heilbron set the "central theme" of his chairmanship by saying that "we must cultivate our own garden" (an allusion to ''[[Candide]]'') and stop trying to covet someone else's.<ref name="ClarkKerr8">{{cite book|last1=Kerr|first1=Clark|title=The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967, Volume 1|date=2001|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-22367-7|page=185|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMEZ_47vXkAC&pg=PA185}}</ref>  Under Heilbron, the board also attempted to improve the quality of state college campus architecture, "in the hope that campuses no longer would resemble [[Prisons in California|state prisons]]."<ref name="Nelson" />  (For example, at the height of the Great Depression, the state government had considered converting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo into a state prison.<ref name="Gerth9">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=converting%20prison}}</ref>)

Although the state colleges had reported to Sacramento since 1921, the board resolved on August 4, 1961 that the headquarters of the California State Colleges would be set up in the Los Angeles area, and in December, the newly-formed chancellor's office was moved from Sacramento to a rented office on [[Imperial Highway]] in [[Inglewood, California|Inglewood]].<ref name="Gerth_Page_126">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=126|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=imperial%20headquarters}}</ref> This location gained the unfortunate nickname of the "imperial headquarters".<ref name="Gerth_Page_126" /> In 1965, the chancellor's office was moved to a larger office space, again rented, on [[Wilshire Boulevard]] in Los Angeles.<ref name="Gerth_Page_161">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=wilshire+boulevard}}</ref>

[[Buell G. Gallagher]] was selected by the board as the first chancellor of the California State Colleges (1961–1962), but resigned after only nine unhappy months to return to his previous job as president of the [[City College of New York]].<ref name="Gerth_Page_120">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|pages=120–129|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=gallagher%20ccny}}</ref> Dumke succeeded him as the second chancellor of the California State Colleges (1962–1982).  As chancellor, Dumke faithfully adhered to the system's role as prescribed by the Master Plan,<ref name="ClarkKerr6" /> despite continuing resistance and resentment from state college dissidents who thought he had been "out-negotiated" and bitterly criticized the Master Plan as a "thieves' bargain".<ref name="ClarkKerr4" /> Disappointment with the Master Plan was widespread but was especially acute at Dumke's former campus, San Francisco State.<ref name="Gerth_Page_166">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=166|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=irritation}}</ref> Dumke retorted that his critics' ambitions to turn the state colleges into "baby Berkeleys" were "unrealistic".<ref name="ClarkKerr5" />  Looking back, Kerr thought the state colleges had failed to appreciate the vast breadth of opportunities reserved to them by the Master Plan, as distinguished from UC's relatively narrow focus on basic research and the doctorate.<ref name="ClarkKerr4" />  In any event, "Heilbron and Dumke got the new state college system off to an excellent start."<ref name="ClarkKerr8" />

=== California State University and Colleges ===
[[File:California State University system headquarters.jpg|thumb|right|The first purpose-built headquarters of the California State University, built in 1976 in [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]].]]
In 1966, [[James R. Mills]], a state assemblyman from San Diego, suggested studying the possibility of changing the name of the system to California State University.  Much of the leadership on this matter emerged from the San Diego area in the following years, but several bills introduced by San Diego legislators failed to pass in the face of staunch opposition from the University of California.<ref name="Gerth_Page_544">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=544|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=mills}}</ref>  The final compromise was that the system would become the California State University and Colleges.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Amal |date=2023 |title=The origins and evolution of academic drift at the California State University, 1960–2005 |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10734-022-00832-w |journal=Higher Education |language=en |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=265–281 |doi=10.1007/s10734-022-00832-w |s2cid=247528329 |issn=0018-1560}}</ref>  Alex Sherriffs, then serving as an education advisor to Governor Reagan, later explained that he was among those who fought the name change because "most of the campuses are not, by any definition I've ever seen, a university. A university ... includes several colleges and is heavily engaged in scholarship and research. It gives the doctoral degrees".<ref>{{cite archive|first=Alex|last=Sherriffs|item=The Governor's office and public information, education, and planning, 1967–1974, an oral history conducted in 1982 by Sarah Lee Sharp|item-url=|type=|item-id=|date=|page=|pages=|fonds=|series=The Governor's Office and Public Information, And Planning, 1967–1974.|file=|box=|collection=Regional Oral History|collection-url=https://archive.org/details/govofficepub00chalrich/page/n163/mode/2up|repository=|institution=University of California, Berkeley|location=|oclc=|accession=}}</ref> Governor Ronald Reagan signed Assembly Bill 123 into law on November 29, 1971 and the board was renamed the "Trustees of the California State University and Colleges".<ref name="Gerth_Page_545">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=545}}</ref>

In accordance with the new systemwide name, on May 23, 1972, the board of trustees voted to rename fourteen of the nineteen CSU campuses to "California State University," followed by a comma and then their geographic designation.<ref name="Gerth_Page_548">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=548|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=%22may%2023,%201972%22}}</ref>  The five campuses exempted from renaming were the five newest state colleges created during the 1960s.<ref name="Gerth_Page_548" />

The new names were strongly disliked at certain campuses.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Celly |first1=Kirti Sawhney |last2=Knepper |first2=Brenda |date=2010 |title=The California State University: a case on branding the largest public university system in the US: Branding the California State University |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nvsm.375 |journal=International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=137–156 |doi=10.1002/nvsm.375}}</ref>  For example, CSUSF drew the humorous response "[[Response to sneezing|Gesundheit]]," and was frequently confused with [[City College of San Francisco|CCSF]], [[University of San Francisco|USF]], and [[University of California, San Francisco|UCSF]].<ref name="Greenwood">{{cite news |last1=Greenwood |first1=Noel |title=What's in a Name? Plenty, Schools Say |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 21, 1973 |pages=3, 24, 25}} Available via [[ProQuest]] Historical Newsstand.</ref>  Over Dumke's objections, state assemblyman [[Al Alquist|Alfred E. Alquist]] proposed a bill that would rename the San Jose campus back to San Jose State.<ref name="Gerth_Page_548" />  As passed and signed into law, the bill also renamed San Diego and San Francisco back to their old names.<ref name="Gerth_Page_548" /> A few years later, the Sonoma and Humboldt campuses secured passage of similar legislation.<ref name="Gerth_Page_548" />

In September 1976, the chancellor's office was moved from Los Angeles to a custom-built headquarters at 400 Golden Shore on the Long Beach waterfront.<ref name="Gerth_Page_399">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=399|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=1976+long+beach}}</ref> This was the first time CSU had owned its own headquarters building.<ref name="Gerth_Page_399" />

=== California State University ===
[[File:CSUCI-camarillo state hospital bell tower-schafphoto (cropped).jpg|thumb|Established in 2002, [[California State University, Channel Islands]], in [[Camarillo, California|Camarillo]], is the newest CSU campus.]]
Two major changes occurred in 1982. First, CSU was able to quietly obtain passage of a bill dropping the word "colleges" from its name.<ref name="Gerth_Page_554">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=554}}</ref>  Second, [[W. Ann Reynolds]] succeeded Dumke as CSU's third chancellor, and brought a dramatically different management style to the CSU system.<ref name="Gerth_Page_554" />   In many ways, Reynolds was the opposite of the "quiet" and "apolitical" Dumke.<ref name="Gerth_Page_554" />  Despite the severe budget pressures brought about by the passage of [[1978 California Proposition 13|Proposition 13]], Reynolds was able to achieve moderate success in improving parity between CSU and UC funding.<ref name="Gerth_Page_554" /> She was unsuccessful in her other long-term objective, securing for CSU the right to award doctorates independently of UC.<ref name="Gerth_Page_554" />  When she asked Dumke for help, he replied that "he had given his word in 1960 and did not believe it principled to change."<ref name="Gerth_Page_554" />   A week later, he testified before the state legislature and did not support the independent doctorate for CSU.<ref name="Gerth_Page_555">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=555}}</ref>
[[File:Humboldt State University Founders Hall (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Founded in 1913, [[California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt]], in [[Arcata, California|Arcata]], became the third [[California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt|Cal Poly]] campus in the CSU system in 2022.]]

Meanwhile, various problems with the 400 Golden Shore building forced the chancellor's office to move to a new building after only 22 years.<ref name="Gerth_Page_437">{{cite book|last1=Gerth|first1=Donald R.|title=The People's University: A History of the California State University|date=2010|publisher=Berkeley Public Policy Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-87772-435-3|page=437 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKH8c1LMlZ4C&q=401+golden}}</ref>   The solution was to trade spaces with the parking lot across the street to the north, a site with better soil conditions.<ref name="Gerth_Page_437" />  In spring 1998, CSU moved into its current headquarters at 401 Golden Shore, then demolished the old building and turned its site into a parking lot.<ref name="Gerth_Page_437" />

Today, the campuses of the CSU system include [[comprehensive university|comprehensive universities]] and [[Institute of Technology (United States)|polytechnic universities]] along with the only [[maritime Academy|maritime academy]] in the western United States.

In May 2020, it was announced that all 23 institutions within the CSU system would host majority-online courses in the Fall 2020 semester as a result of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and the [[Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education|impact of the pandemic on education]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=California State University campuses to remain closed through fall semester, online instruction to continue|url=https://abc7.com/6176291/|date=2020-05-13|website=ABC7 Los Angeles|language=en|access-date=2020-05-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Some of California's main universities not likely to return to campus this fall|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/us/california-universities-fall-online/index.html|author1=Theresa Waldrop |author2=Jon Passantino |author3=Sarah Moon|website=CNN|access-date=2020-05-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Hubler|first=Shawn|date=2020-05-12|title=Fearing a Second Wave, Cal State Will Keep Classes Online in the Fall|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/us/cal-state-online-classes.html|access-date=2020-05-14|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Near the end of 2022, the CSU actively opposed the proposed expansion of the California Community Colleges' right to confer a limited number of four-year bachelor's degrees.<ref name="Weissman">{{cite news |last1=Weissman |first1=Sara |title=A Legal Impasse or a Turf War? |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/12/05/cal-state-objects-proposed-four-year-programs-two-year-colleges |access-date=September 14, 2023 |work=Inside Higher Ed |date=December 4, 2022}}</ref> The community colleges involved noted how ironic it was for CSU to be pushing back against them, in light of CSU's long-running battle with UC over the right to award the doctorate.<ref name="Weissman" />

In July 2023, CSU's systemwide [[Title IX]] compliance was harshly criticized in a report prepared by the [[Cozen O'Connor]] law firm at the request of the Board of Trustees (at a cost of over $1 million) and separately in another report prepared by the [[California State Auditor]] at the request of the Legislature.<ref name="Le Coz">{{cite news |last1=Le Coz |first1=Emily |last2=Jacoby |first2=Kenny |title=CSU, nation's largest university system, mishandled sexual misconduct, bullying claims |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/07/17/csu-title-ix-violation-investigation/70420045007/ |access-date=21 July 2023 |work=USA Today |date=July 17, 2023}}</ref> The Cozen report found that CSU's legal department and Title IX coordinators were severely understaffed.<ref name="Le Coz" /> Cozen reported there was a widespread perception throughout the CSU system that "individual campus administrators act to protect the interests of the institution rather than care for the individuals who have been harmed".<ref name="Le Coz" />

In January 2024, CSU faculty including professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians and coaches began a system-wide strike.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-22/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cal-state-facultys-first-ever-systemwide-strike|title=Thousands of CSU faculty vow to 'shut down' campuses in first systemwide strike|first=Debbie|last=Troung|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 22, 2024|accessdate=January 22, 2024}}</ref> The strike, which consisted of 30,000 CSU faculty members and affected all of CSU's 23 campuses, was set to be held for five days, with faculty members seeking a 12% pay increase.<ref>{{Cite web |author-last1=Rodriguez|author-first1=Olga R. |date=2024-01-22 |title=California State University faculty reach tentative contract agreement and will end strike |url=https://apnews.com/article/california-state-university-faculty-strike-4d123a00b900fb7007c81b39256bcded |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> The strike, which ended after less than a day, resulted in a tentative agreement with two 5% pay increases (one retroactive to July 1, 2023 and one planned for July 1, 2024) as well as extended parental leave, more increases for lower-paid faculty, and more benefits.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/30000-california-state-university-workers-set-strike/story?id=106561392|title=California State University workers end strike after reaching tentative agreement|first1=Max|last1=Zahn|first2=Jolie|last2=Lash|publisher=ABC News|date=January 23, 2024|accessdate=January 24, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Matthew |date=2024-01-22 |title=California State Universities reach tentative agreement with faculty and staff - CBS Los Angeles |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/california-state-universities-reach-tentative-agreement-with-staff/ |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Support for the agreement among faculty has been mixed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-24/cal-state-strike-settles-quickly-to-mixed-reviews|title=CSU and faculty union reach tentative pact with lightening speed, and not all are happy|work=Los Angeles Times|date=2024-01-24|accessdate=2024-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dailynews.com/2024/01/23/csu-faculty-seem-split-on-merits-of-tentative-labor-deal-announced-monday/|title=CSU faculty seem split on merits of tentative labor deal announced Monday|first=Dorothy|last=Elder|publisher=Los Angeles Daily News|date=January 23, 2024|accessdate=January 24, 2024}}</ref>

In 2026, the number of CSU campuses will shrink for the first time, as Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo will be absorbing Cal State Maritime, which will become an off-campus branch by the name of Cal Poly, Solano Campus.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2024-11-21 |title=CSU Board of Trustees Approves Cal Maritime and Cal Poly Integration {{!}} Cal Poly |url=https://www.calpoly.edu/news/csu-board-trustees-approves-cal-maritime-and-cal-poly-integration |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=www.calpoly.edu |language=en}}</ref>