NORTHRIDGE : CSUN Rejects the Quakes as Nickname

By an overwhelming margin, Cal State Northridge students voted to keep the Matadors as the school’s nickname, rejecting the Quakes as an alternative.

Several students who voted against the change said the reference to the Jan. 17 earthquake--which some supporters said could be a lucrative marketing tool----was insensitive.

“Two students died in the earthquake, and that could’ve been me or anybody else, and I just couldn’t do that,� said senior Tadzio Garcia, a music major.

Shadi Ganjau, a senior linguistics major who voted for the change, said it would be positive. “Then nobody will forget what happened to us.�

Altogether, 1,334 students voted to keep the name Matadors, while 392 voted to become the Quakes. Another 172 voted for neither name. Altogether, 1,898 students voted out of a student body of about 25,000.

But the measure to increase student fees failed by only 87 votes. Without first-time votes from a satellite campus in Ventura County, the measure would have passed by 17 votes.

The increased fees had been slated to pay for the addition of two women’s sports teams mandated by the state in a gender-equity agreement. The teams must be in place by 1998. The defeat may signal the end of the football team, since the only way the school can add women’s sports is by cutting the men’s program.

Those voting against the increase were not sympathetic.

“I think students in academics represent the school just as well as athletes, if not better, and I don’t see justification for increasing the amount of money they already get,� said Gabriela Bibian, a junior Spanish major.

Student Body President Steven Parker said administrators ought to look elsewhere for the money.

“Students are always the bottomless well to draw money from,� Parker said. “We’re already going to be faced with a 23% fee increase statewide. Students shouldn’t always be the easy answer for funding.�