1983 Amid controversy, the name is changed from Point Loma College to Point Loma Nazarene College.

With Draper as president, some trustees saw the golden opportunity to change the name of the college. Some saw it as the great defense against the “loss” of the college. One district superintendent said he supported it because he “always felt uncomfortable among his colleagues at general assemblies.” Point Loma did not fit into the conformity of the church, and that had to be rectified. For those other district superintendents who lived in constant fear that the college would pull away from the church, this would be the great and ultimate anchor. Their resolve was strengthened when they learned that the president had cancer. They had to do it immediately, and they would do it in his name.

There was no agenda item for the March, 1983 meeting of the trustees relating to a name change, so very few were prepared for its coming. Instead, Grady Cantrell brought it to the floor of the meeting as a recommendation from a bylaws commission. The trustee president did not rule it out of order. The existing bylaws expected prior notification but the proponents held to a technicality that it was not a major change, only a change in the dba (the legal process that lets an institution with one name “do business as” with another name). Nor did the trustee president suggest a serious study be done before such a major decision was to be made. Caught by surprise that such a major recommendation would come from the report of a committee, opponents were unprepared. The debate among the trustees was hot. In the first vote the trustees split evenly, all but one minister voting for the name change, and all but one layman voting against it. A recess was called, and lobbying began. Soon trustee president Paul Benefiel called to Charles Ogden and others, saying “Come on in. We’re going to change the name today.”17 When the vote was taken again, one layman changed his vote, and the name change passed.

If those in favor had expected a great bell of jubilation to toll in the sky when the announcement was made, they were quickly disabused of that illusion. On and off campus the reaction was deep, divided, and passionate, as much over the method as over the decision. As one district superintendent said, they had misread the depth of feeling on the issue. At a meeting with faculty to discuss rapidly declining morale, Benefiel said the issue of the name would not ever be reconsidered. The advocates had won and there could never be a new vote, regardless of the consequences.

From Promise and Destiny: Grace in the History of Point Loma Nazarene University by Ron Kirkemo


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