"It is a little bit confusing," said Kamar O'Guinn, a senior at Cal State East Bay and chairman of Associated Students Inc. "You tell people the name changed, and then you tell a visitor how to get here, and the signs say Cal State Hayward."

In the next few days or weeks, however, the old signs will be replaced. And so the name change, which offended so many Hayward residents and students, will be one step closer to completion.

The signs, which cost an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 for the Hayward area alone, were purchased with private donations, said Dick Metz, vice president of Administration & Business Affairs for Cal State East Bay. Metz said they were being stored on campus Wednesday, awaiting an installation permit by the state Department of Transportation.

State bureaucracy has proved less of a holdup for Cal State East Bay's smaller Concord Campus in Contra Costa County, where the new highway signs are already in place. The city of Concord — where the name change was warmly received — paid for them, said Jay Colombatto, director of University Marketing Communications.

While proposing the name change, which was intended to boost the university's profile in the region, President Norma Rees made it clear that the transition would take years. A committee has been formed since to prioritize a long list of requests. At the top was a sign in front of the Hayward campus, which was quickly replaced.

About 13 months later, university officials say the transition is about half complete. The campus shuttles recently were repainted, Metz said, and the university seal in the Warren Hall building soon will be replaced. During the heated months leading up to the January 2005 name change, opponents predicted it could cost the school $1 million. At the time, Rees disputed those figures and gave an estimate of $200,000.

Metz said Wednesday that the university had spent $50,000 or less. Ultimately, he said, costs would fall under Rees' estimate. Metz's figures do not include the cost of items such as stationery or old vehicles, which are being replaced as they run out or wear down.

From a marketing perspective — one of the major forces behind the name change — updated road signs have long been anticipated by university officials.

"That kind of consistency is just very important," Colombatto said.

But while the transition is expected to be nearly finished next year, at least one "H" will remain on the Hayward campus for years to come. It can be found in the tile on the pool floor, which was refinished just months before the change became official.

By Katy Murphy
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3565139