K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune
Major League hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who attended San Diego State and coaches baseball there, taped a promotional message on Thursday in support of the university.
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COLLEGE AREA – Following scores of drug arrests, San Diego State University is launching a publicity blitz featuring some of its most notable alumni praising the school's actions.
The campaign, which costs about $21,000, involves a series of television and radio announcements and a full-page newspaper ad in which alumni and others say they are “prouder than ever” to be affiliated with SDSU.
Among those in the ads are Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn; Rubio's founder Ralph Rubio; and Jack Goodall, former chief executive officer and retired board chairman of Jack in the Box Inc.
The university spent about $15,000 on the campaign, and the rest was donated by Cox Business and Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill.
Associated Press
Jack Goodall, retired board chairman of Jack in the Box restaurant chain, spoke of recent campus drug arrests. "SDSU will be known as the university that did something about it," he said.
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“The university's reputation is something that's been questioned in various news media articles, and we have received a small number of e-mails from students who were concerned it might affect their ability to get a job after graduation,” SDSU spokesman Jack Beresford said. “We don't think that's true, and this campaign is intended to help demonstrate there's tremendous support and pride in the institution.”
SDSU has received an outpouring of positive feedback following the arrests, Beresford said.
The radio and television public service announcements were recorded yesterday at KPBS, which is affiliated with San Diego State. Each person was told to recite essentially the same statement, inserting their name and title.
“I'm Jack Goodall of The Campanile Foundation, and I'm prouder than ever of San Diego State University,” Goodall said.
The SDSU alum said the arrests affect SDSU's image in the short term.
“The publicity was bad. . . . It's bad anywhere where drugs are being used,” he said. “Parents are worried about this sort of thing.”
But Goodall doesn't believe the university's long-term reputation will suffer.
“SDSU will be known as the university that did something about it,” he said.
Students participated, too.
“We want to let people know this incident isn't going to be what defines us as a university,” sophomore Jason Witt said.
Today, SDSU is running a full-page advertisement in the The San Diego Union-Tribune featuring the names of more than 600 alumni, faculty, students and others who support the university's actions in response to drug problems on and around campus.
A yearlong investigation, which involved undercover work by federal drug agents, resulted in 125 arrests, including 95 students, according to the District Attorney's Office. SDSU put the number of student arrests directly stemming from the operation as much lower.
Six fraternities were placed on interim suspension. Suspensions were lifted yesterday for three – Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Mu and Phi Kappa Theta – after an administrative review found that the single member arrested on felony charges in each fraternity was either inactive or not a resident of the chapter house.
The KPBS announcements begin airing this weekend.
Sherry Saavedra: (619) 542-4598; sherry.saavedra@uniontrib.com
