The man credited with leading the charge to found California State University San Marcos is now on the chopping block at the North San Diego County campus.
The public university is hosting a series of listening sessions this month as it works to determine whether the memory of William “Bill” Craven should be erased from the school due to disputed allegations that he supported “nativism and white supremacy.”
Craven, who died in 1999, served as a U.S. Marine and a California state assemblyman.
The “crown jewel” of his legislative accomplishments was the successful establishment of Cal State San Marcos, according to obituaries at the time that described him as a politically astute moderate Republican who understood how to work in the trenches to get things done politically.
Craven began lobbying for the campus in 1973, even before he was elected to the assembly.
