ABOUT THE FACULTY STAFF CLUB
The California Spanish Colonial building that houses the Faculty-Staff Club was originally constructed as the campus cafeteria and bookstore in 1931. Following World War II and with the advent of the G.I. Bill, the campus population outgrew its original physical plant. The bookstore was moved to a Quonset hut, and a walled patio was added to the “Caf” to serve hamburgers al fresco. The offices of the student government occupied the former bookstore space. When the Bookstore, East Commons, and Aztec Center were added to the campus during the late 1950s and early ’60s, President Love granted the faculty permission to use the vacated building as a faculty lounge-cafeteria and Senate Office. Then, on November 18, 1975, the Senate recommended and President Golding authorized the formation of the Faculty Club, a membership corporation. Original members paid an initiation fee and monthly dues to pay off the mortgage required for improvements, and with the start of fall semester 1978, the new club was fully operational.
Later adding Staff to its name, the club operated as its founders had envisaged: an independently managed central meeting place where faculty and staff worked and relaxed together. Unfortunately, the CSU funding crisis of the early ’90s severely affected the club when staff cutbacks and faculty retirements reduced club membership by a third. But with help from the University administration and Aztec Shops, its Board of Directors invested in a fin-de-siècle remodeling and refurbishing of the facility and entered into an energetic management agreement with Aztec Shops.
Today Faculty-Staff Club membership continues to grow amid dramatically improved facilities, meals, and services. Solvent and successful, the SDSU FSC is once again a hub for campus employees and their guests.