Creating connection and community takes time—but it’s possible.
By Jeremy Dent-Smith, Staff Reporter
School spirit has long been a challenge at CSUDH. We’re a commuter campus, meaning many students go from home to school to work and back again. As a result, a lot of Toros rarely if ever get the chance to participate in activities that could bring our community together.
CSUDH is a campus of roughly 14,000 students, according to the 2025 Fact Sheet—nearly a quarter are here part-time. Between classes, work, and other off-campus responsibilities, students have a lot on their plates and that often translates to low turnout at events, including athletics. Sometimes, it seems like there’s just this overall lack of awareness of what’s happening.
“Early on, when I was in my freshman year, I had no idea what was happening on campus and oftentimes felt like the campus was dead,” said junior journalism student Kevin Demetrio. “I knew I had to change something, which led to my brotherhood [Male Success Alliance], and they complete not only my life on campus but my school spirit as well.”
Some Toros may feel that CSUDH is overshadowed by the more prominent universities in Los Angeles, like UCLA or USC. But Dominguez Hills has its own flavor that makes it special, and as a community, we should be doing more to tap into our strengths and create the sort of on-campus vibe that would encourage students to fully engage their college experience here.
Campus life is what makes the college experience. Being able to step out of the house and take part in everything college has to offer is what makes it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We all need time away from campus, even if that means zoning out after a long day, but if there are opportunities to get involved or attend events that only happen once a month or semester—or ever in CSUDH history—then I think we should push ourselves to show up.
“While we have many events that are happening on campus, most of us normal students might not have the information we need to support,” Demetrio said. “Our basketball teams—they are having extraordinary seasons, but I think us as students could be better at showing support to our players.”
I’m a guard on the men’s basketball team. We had an incredible run at the National Championship this year—something that’s never happened before—but to be honest, I was pretty disappointed by the attendance at some of the games we played here and in San Diego. Sports are a huge part of the college experience, and so many people dream of playing at the college level. My teammates and I achieved life-long goals this year, but in my opinion, we did so without the fan support I think we should have had.
“Our last [West Regional] game we played away at Point Loma and their crowd was electric and it was a very tough game to play in because of that,” said graduate guard Alex Garcia. “I want to be able to create that same school spirit here at CSUDH, which can really help our athletics teams’ performances.”
Toros Athletics is entering a new era, hopefully, but game attendance seems to be near the bottom of the CCAA. This may be because many students aren’t aware of when sporting events are happening, despite promotion by our personal and university-affiliated social media accounts. I think if we invested more resources into building relationships with both the on- and off-campus community, we’d see improved school spirit and, ultimately, greater interest in CSUDH overall.
Building that spirit won’t happen overnight, but we can gradually create more opportunities for students to feel connected. Even small steps—clearer communication, better promotion, and celebrating our achievements—can help grow the kind of school pride the Toro Nation truly deserves.