It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but the name California State University at Sacramento is going to remain the official name of the capital’s college.

President Alexander Gonzalez went to his branding committee March 16 after the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly voted against the change on March 3 and after he had the opportunity to meet with other university groups to hear their opinions.

“If there’s going to be this kind of resistance, then we won’t move forward,” Gonzalez said. “The branding committee has withdrawn their recommendation to change the official name.”

Gonzalez said that the Faculty Senate had been asked to look at the name change “quite a while back.”

“They just sat on it,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said in the beginning he wanted to limit the number of names used for the university, but changing the official name was not “the agenda.”

“When I put together the branding committee, I told them to look at the name and settle on one for the nickname. They then got involved with the focus groups and came up with the official name should be changed to Sacramento State University.”

When the senate finally addressed the name change, the reasons it cited for its objection ranged from the process to the cost. Many said that California State had a great deal of recognition, which helped when applying for grants and helped graduates obtain jobs.

“The proposed formal name would diminish the stature, possibly affecting faculty access to grants,” said Marsha Dillon, professor of geography.

“The cost really wasn’t much of an issue,” Gonzalez said. “If you deplete your stock in stationary and such, it really won’t add much. Changing the domain would be the most difficult on the Web site. That would be the most costly.”

The branding committee has now asked that a nickname be chosen. Its suggestions are Sacramento State University and Sac State.

Karen Marie Watson can be reached at [email protected]