This article was written by BenitoLink Intern Camille Mattish. Lea este articulo en español aquí.
Gavilan College is pondering what to name its campus in San Benito County. The school’s Board of Trustees considered naming it on Jan. 9, but instead delayed the decision until April 9.
Area 7 Trustee Irma Gonzalez, whose district covers part of San Benito County, said that the board’s outreach has so far included Gavilan students, staff and faculty; Hollister High School; San Andreas High School; Anzar High School; a community forum; and the Measure X website.
“However, the county has a population of over 65,000, so the percentage of responses received is rather small in my view and not an adequate sample of the community,” Gonzalez said.
According to the district’s Jan. 9 agenda packet, they received about 360 survey responses since launching it Oct. 30, 2023.
Gonzalez said she has received multiple phone calls from members of the community expressing their concerns about the naming process, raising her attention to the “lack of sufficient public notification regarding community input.”
Because of these concerns, she moved at the Jan. 9 meeting to postpone the board’s decision on the name. The motion was carried with a second vote from Board President Trustee Area 5 Jeanie Wallace, whose area also covers part of San Benito County.
BenitoLink was unable to find the survey on the school’s website as well as the Measure X website. When Gonzalez was asked for the link, she also said she could not find it and had to request it from the school administration. Since then, the survey has been placed on the Measure X homepage.
The survey proposes three naming options: Gavilan College – Hollister Campus, Gavilan College – San Benito County Campus and Gavilan College – San Benito Campus. The survey is open to the public and voting ends March 31. According to the agenda packet, the name that has gotten the most votes so far is Gavilan College – Hollister Campus. The survey is available here.
The official name will be put on a monument sign at the entrance to the campus at the corner of Fairview Road and Cielo Vista Drive.
The new campus is expected to open in spring 2025. It will feature one computer lab, two science labs and six classrooms, according to Dean of Student Learning Noah Lystrup.
The school is planning on providing nursing and phlebotomy courses by partnering with Allied Health.
The project is being funded by Measure X, of which $52 million was earmarked for the San Benito County campus.
Gonzalez said that in 2007 the district used $8 million from Measure E funds to purchase the 80-acre property. Measure E was approved by voters in 2004 and included funding to provide permanent classrooms, labs, a library, job training and college transfer counseling in San Benito County. Nothing was built using Measure E funds.
“The remainder of the $42 million target for the campus on Measure E was transferred to Coyote Valley where a campus was built,” she said.
The property where the campus is being built was purchased in 2008 from Fairview Corners, LLC, which had purchased it from the Bank of San Francisco in 1996.
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