SDSU FROM A-Z

M is for MEChA.

MEChA (Movimento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlàn or Chicana/o Student Movement of Aztlàn) is a student organization that focuses on the educational concerns of Chicano communities and promotes self-determination.

M is for Montezuma Mesa.

By 1922, San Diego State had become a four-year institution that could offer bachelor’s degrees and its increased enrollment had caused the campus to outgrow its Park Boulevard site. President Edward L. Hardy proposed that the site be expanded but his plans were rejected by the state legislature. In 1925, the legislature passed the Greater San Diego State Teacher College Act, which authorized the institution to expand only if the city could offer a suitable location and would buy the buildings and other investments belonging to the college. A citizens advisory committee was appointed to review proposals; in 1926, its members settled on Balboa Park as a possible site.San Diego voters opposed this idea. In 1927, the committee suggested Encanto, but voters refused to approve the bond issue that would finance the investment purchase. Finally, in June 1928, the committee accepted the Bell-Lloyd Investment Company offer of 125 acres on the Montezuma Mesa site, where SDSU still resides.

The campus groundbreaking took place on 7 October 1929, and the Mission Revival architectural plant was constructed. The first classes occurred on the new campus in February 1931.

Construction of the new San Diego State Teachers College campus on Montezuma Mesa, 1929.

N is for Name Changes.

For an institution that is a little more than a century old, San Diego State has undergone several name changes, which reflect the evolution of the school’s growth. It was established as the State Normal School of San Diego, California on 13 March 1897. Next it became the San Diego State Teachers College on 28 July 1921, corresponding with the shift to a four-year institution. The name changed once again on 15 September 1935, this time to San Diego State College. During the 1970s, it became a university. After a brief stint as California State University, San Diego in 1972, the school assumed its current name, San Diego State University, on 1 January 1974.

The school’s opening enrollment was 91 students, but under the leadership of President Samuel T. Black, it had increased to 400 by 1910.

O is for Observatory.

Mount Laguna Observatory was dedicated on 19 June 1968. A research facility that supports SDSU’s astronomy department, the only such program in the California State University System, the observatory was funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of California. It is located 45 miles east of downtown San Diego at an elevation level of 6,100 feet, away from the lights of the city.

O is for Open Air Theatre (OAT).

Formerly called The Greek Bowl, this outdoor venue was built during the later years of the Depression Era. Construction began in 1939 but was not completed until 1941 because of environmental, economic, and weather challenges. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided a great deal of the funding, along with the State of California.

The theatre was built on a partially excavated site and seats more than 4,200. Commencement ceremonies, concerts, rallies, and other events that serve the university and the community take place in the OAT.

P is for Pow-Wow.

An annual SDSU event since 1972, the Pow-Wow provides an opportunity for Native Americans and others to celebrate Pan-Indian heritage through dancing, drumming, and singing.

The gathering is sponsored in part by the Native American Student Alliance and the Department of American Indian Studies.

P is for Presidents.

SDSU has had seven institutional presidents in its 106-year history:

Samuel T. Black, 1898-1910
Edward L. Hardy, 1910-1935
Walter Hepner, 1935-1952
Malcolm A. Love, 1952-1971
Brage Golding, 1972-1977
Thomas B. Day, 1978-1996
Stephen L. Weber, 1996-present

Donald E. Walker and Trevor Colbourn served as acting president from 1971 to 1972 and 1977 to 1978, respectively. A selection of the accomplishments of two presidents are on display here (see also B is for Samuel T. Black).

Q is for Quadrangle.

The Quadrangle, or the Quad, has been a part of the State campus since it relocated to the Montezuma Mesa site in 1931. It was built as the centerpiece for the main academic building, the science building, the library, a twelve-story water tower, the training school, and the physical plant. The Quad served as a drill-practice area for soldiers during World War II and as a concert venue beginning in the 1950s. It continues to be a campus thoroughfare and study area.

Q is for Quetzal Hall.

In 1937, Quetzal Hall became San Diego State’s first dormitory. Mrs. Mary V. Southworth operated this off-campus residence hall, which housed forty women students. Southworth worked closely with the college Dean of Women to establish dorm rules.

R is for Rowing.

Just one year into its existence in 1898, the State Normal School followed other colleges’ trends and established six rowing crews—five female and one male (reflective of the school’s gender balance at that time). Rowing became the first major sport at San Diego State. The teams did not have professional coaches and did not play competitively; instead, they were meant to teach the students proper technique and to offer members social opportunities. The women’s crews functioned more like clubs and became increasingly like sororities.

During the 1920s, a shift in sports philosophy called for the teams to allow greater participation across the student body. Some of the rowing crews reorganized themselves as sororities at that time.

The Albatross crew, one of several women’s State Normal School rowing teams, in San Diego Bay, 1916.

S is for Alvena Storm.

Alvena Storm (1902-2003), professor of geography at San Diego State from 1926 to 1966, played a major role in the development of her department and at one time served as its chair.

Her specialty area was Western geography. In 1986, Storm became the first woman to have an SDSU building named in her honor when the social sciences building west wing was designated Storm Hall. In 1996, she was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from State.

S is for Scripps Cottage.

The first new building constructed on the Montezuma Mesa site was Scripps Cottage, which occupied part of the space where Love Library is now located. Funded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, the cottage opened in September 1931 as a lounge and gathering place for women students. It served as the headquarters for the Associated Women Students. When the construction of Love Library began in 1968, Scripps Cottage was shifted to its current site.

It has been used as a conference meeting space and as an international student center. In 1972, its grounds received the landscaping it has today.

S is for “S” Mountain.

In 1931, a new campus plant on Montezuma Mesa called for a new tradition when the Council of Twelve, a group of outstanding upperclassmen, devised the idea to paint the letter “S” on Cowles Mountain (also referred to as Black Mountain at that time), northeast of campus. The idea received support from State president Edward L. Hardy, who gave students the day off to take part in building it on 27 February 1931. Five hundred students, primarily freshman, cleared the area and painted the 400-foot high sign, while others provided refreshments and entertainment. Although some neighbors complained, they later got used to the landmark. One established custom called for the lighting of the letter before the first football game each year. Students have maintained the S off and on over the years. In April 1942, during World War II, the local military ordered the S covered up for the sake of national security. By the 1970s, the painting tradition was discarded but enjoyed a resurgence in the late 1980s.