Talk turned Monday in a meeting at City Hall to one day making the Stockton Center for Stan State’s campus into its own full-fledged university. Envision in your mind a California State University Stockton.
What got people’s attention was how warmly California State University Stanislaus’ newly appointed interim President Joseph Sheley embraced the idea. He came to Stockton for a meeting of the Stockton Center Site Authority, a hodgepodge board of CSU trustees, Stockton City Council members. Patrick Johnston is chair.
Sure, this is at best 10 or 20 years down the road, but Sheley suggested a first step is small, like getting Caltrans to change the road signs to designate your next turn off the Crosstown Freeway to “Stockton Center” rather than Stanislaus State. It’s about creating the brand in people’s minds today, he said.
“It should say ‘Stockton Center,’” Sheley said. “We should pound that until people say it naturally.”
Don’t get too excited. Talk has waxed and waned over the years of winning Stockton its own public four-year public university. Sheley is one month in as interim position, so we’ll have to wait and see if he’s around long enough to call Caltrans and convince them into putting up new road signs.
But there’s a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the next major building project here will be a long overdue institution of higher learning, rather than a prison.
