On the night of Thursday, May 15, 1969, the newly formed board of trustees for the Santa Clarita Valley Junior College District selected a name for the still-unbuilt college campus.

The young district was facing complex challenges with very little money available. By May of 1969, the college’s first catalog was ready to go minus one important detail, the name of the college.

There already was a College of the Desert and a College of the Redwoods, so College of the Canyons made sense.

College of the Canyons was the name best liked by around 40 Hart High School seniors, who have been working with student personnel chief Charles Rheinschmidt to get ready for the first year of operation this September. 

However, not everyone at the board of trustees meeting was pleased. According to newspaper reports from the time, the announcement of the name was met with loud objections from many adults in the audience. Critics argued that “College of the Canyons” was too vague and failed to pinpoint a specific geographic location.

To that, board president William Bonelli pointed out that the region itself has not yet settled on a name, with maps alternatively labelling the area the Upper Santa Clara River Valley, Santa Clarita, and Valencia in equal turns. 

“This is a problem all public districts face here, no name. As soon as the valley agrees on one, then I am sure you will see a number of public districts changing their name,” Bonelli said. 

The College of the Canyons name was approved. Its new mascot, the cougar, became the mascot simply because COC Vice President Gary Mouck, who had also suggested the College of the Canyon name, liked the animal.

“There was no cover (for the catalogue) because the college didn’t have a name,” Mouck recalled years later. 

That issue would soon be resolved. Mouck was in his office one day in early 1969, examining topographic maps of the Santa Clarita Valley, when he noticed the large number of canyons. “I counted over 50. So I yelled out, ‘How about College of the Canyons?’ ” 

The college officially opened on September 22, 1969, initially operating out of Hart High School. Though officials expected 600 students, enrollment reached 735. Administrative offices were housed in a nearby strip mall, and more than 150 classes were offered, in subjects ranging from astronomy to sociology.

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