CSULB newspaper ditches 49er name after 75 years — and a university foundation may be next
Student journalists cited gold rush-era atrocities carried out against natives as the reason for the change. The nonprofit 49er Foundation now says it’s considering a name change as well.
Shortly after the university was founded in 1949, a small group of Long Beach State students came together to form its newspaper. Pulling from the university’s gold rush branding (and the year of its founding), the students dubbed the publication the Forty-Niner.
After 75 years of campus coverage, the paper has ditched its old moniker — one of the last remnants of the university’s 1850s theme — for something fresher (and less steeped in controversy): Long Beach Current.
“Although the name may have seemed fitting for the time, students, faculty and Indigenous community members have voiced their concerns over the decades,” Sam Farfan, community engagement manager for the student paper, wrote in an Aug. 20 editorial.
