By In the past 75 years, campus life and culture at Long Beach State has become an intricate tapestry of student activism, inclusion and pride.
Service-providing organizations on campus like the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center and Project Rebound are a couple highlights of kindness on campus.
The Child Development Center was founded in 1975 after a generous donation from alumni Isabel Patterson, for whom the center was eventually named after.
Patterson’s deep love of caring for children lifts the weight off of CSULB students with children by providing them the peace of mind and time to focus on schooling.
According to CSULB professor Barbara Kingsley-Wilson’s book, “Long Beach State at 75,” Patterson was impatient with college officials who were taking their time in building a toddler and infant facility in the care center.
Patterson urged college officials to speed the process of construction, and the toddler and infant center was finally completed in 1994.
A small group of children are gathered around a table alongside a woman, eager to participate in an activity at the Child Care Center in 1971. The center’s primary focus was to babysit the children of student parents. Photo credit: CSULB Special Collections & University Archives
Founded in the 70s, Project Rebound is a CSU program assisting formerly incarcerated individuals who aim to further their education through a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Project Rebound joined the Beach towards the end of 2020 and since then have supported 95 students. They guide students through filling financial aid forms, provide services like CalFresh expungement, and advocate for students with difficulties in parole or probation.
In 2024, CSULB’s student organizations have been consistently vocal in calling for public support from students regarding issues on campus.
La F.U.E.R.Z.A (formerly known as La Raza in the 70’s) is a student organization that focuses on political and cultural issues. The organization was founded in 1968 to educate the students on campus and demand for change.
The media spokesperson for La F.U.E.R.Z.A, Pedro Garcia, who is using an alias for safety reasons, recalled a moment where he halted the relocation of the La F.U.E.R.Z.A resource centers to the basement of the campus library.
“The administration never spoke to students about what our needs were and spent our tuition money to hire a designer without notifying any of us,” Garcia explained.
“We organized all the student organizations who frequent the resource centers to come and speak with President Conoley. It was successful.”
La F.U.E.R.Z.A is consistent in continuing the legacy of their predecessors. They have been seen protesting tuition increases and advocating for undocumented students.
While there have been many positive changes to campus, the university has their fair share of criticism.
Over the past two years, the general consensus of dissatisfaction expressed from students is centered around the increase in parking permits and fees, dorming issues, lack of facility repairs like the escalators and lack of support towards the marginalized communities.
CSULB has evolved greatly over the years, both as a physical establishment as well as in regards to policies– but there is still a long way to go.
