It was located on a 17-acre (6.9 ha) campus on Park Boulevard in University Heights (now the headquarters of San Diego Unified School District).

[8] On May 29, 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a near-capacity audience in the Open Air Theater.

[29][30][31] The entire $3.5 billion project, now known as SDSU Mission Valley, includes housing, office and retail space, hotels, and 80 acres (32 ha) of parks and open space, including a 34-acre (14 ha) river park on city property; it will be rolled out in phases over 15 years.

Several structures on the campus are named in past presidents' honor, such as Hardy Memorial Tower, Hepner Hall (integrated in the university's logo), and Malcolm A.

[34] On that date, the CSU Board of Trustees appointed Adela de la Torre to serve as the permanent President.

It is located on a coastal site on the grounds of the old San Diego Naval Training Center (now part of Liberty Station).

[62] The SDSU-Georgia branch campus is offering courses leading to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) bachelor's degrees.

[74] Due to the overwhelming number of students and lack of facilities and majors, The California State University Board of Trustees voted to cap enrollment for SDSU at 33,000.

[96] SDSU ranks among the top universities for economic and campus ethnic diversity according to U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2012".

SDSU's undergraduate international business program ranks eleventh in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2012".

[98] As part of the program, students study at four universities worldwide, including the United States, China, the Middle East, and India.

Modern Healthcare ranked SDSU second for graduate schools for physician executives in relation to their Master in Public Health program.

[101] In 2016, San Diego State University's Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union achieved LEED Double Platinum status, joining an elite group of energy-efficient buildings.

In 1969, San Diego State College moved into NCAA Division I, leaving the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

The Aztecs also won the 1960 CCAA baseball title and multiple national championships throughout the 1960s in track, cross country, and swimming.

[119] The school newspaper Paper Lantern (Normal News Weekly was renamed after the addition of the junior college) became The Aztec in September 1925.

The Koala, a comedy newspaper that is widely known around the San Diego State University area, is also distributed monthly on campus but is not directly connected to the school at the moment.

[123] SDSU was recognized in 2014 as one of 20 of the most Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender-friendly campuses in all of the U.S.[124][125] The university attains this recognition through its welcome week LGBT reception, Safe Zone ally training, Big Gay BBQs, participating in Aids Walk San Diego and Pride San Diego, hosting an LGBT college fair, and holding a Lavender Graduation ceremony and several lecture series.

The giant S was lit at night for the opening football game of a season (performed by the freshman to build school spirit) along with pep rallies, and was repainted throughout its history.

The Depression-era Works Project Administration (WPA) partially funded the sculpture, created from a single 2.5-ton block of black diorite.

[138] The dedication ceremony included an elaborate dance circle with students, bare-chested, dressed in Plains Indian costumes.

He and four scantily clad cheerleaders in Plains Indian costumes secretly hid in a makeshift teepee on the sidelines and emerged at halftime with Montezuma chasing the maidens down the track in front of the stands.

"[140] In 2000, the SDSU Associated Students’ University Council passed a resolution, backed by the Native American Student Alliance, that called for retiring the Aztec moniker and Montezuma mascot due to racism and culturally insensitivity and President Stephen Weber appoints a task force to make recommendations on the Aztec moniker and Montezuma mascot.

She also established a governing authority, chaired by the president, to ensure recognition of and reverence for the Aztec civilization become part of daily life at SDSU.

"[146] A student group leader at the time was quoted voicing concern about the impact of utilizing stereotypical Native clothes, breathing fire and using sacred objects to whip up the crowd.

"[139][148] Other points of contention have included worry that the mascot teaches the mistaken idea that Aztecs were a local tribe rather than living in Mexico 1,000 miles away.

[149] The SDSU Native American Student Alliance (NASA) continues to support removal of the mascot in an official statements made to the Committee on Diversity, Equity and Outreach.

[152] In May 2021, the senate of the university opted a vote for commission to replace the human depiction of the Aztec Warrior for at least two animals of the Kumeyaay heritage.

A 36-year-old graduate engineering student, while apparently defending his thesis, shot and killed his three professors, Constantinos Lyrintzis, Cheng Liang, and D. Preston Lowrey III, at San Diego State University.

In early 2015, SDSU was found to have wrongfully accused a male foreign exchange student of sexual assault during the fall 2014 semester and allegedly failing to afford him due process.