Student organizations As of August 2025, SFSU has 300 formally recognized student organizations. In order to receive funding, student organizations must be formally recognized by the Office of Student Activities & Events. 49
Greek life organizations are formally recognized.
Housing SFSU has three on-campus housing neighborhoods: the Central Neighborhood, which only houses first-year students, and the North and South Neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are further divided into housing communities. Also
Parkmerced, a planned neighborhood consisting of high-rise and low-rise apartments, is located immediately south of the university.
Facilities Health The Gator Student Health Center building opened in 2025 as part of the West Grove Commons project, which included the West Grove Commons dorm building. The project cost $178.9 million, with $116.3 million of the amount covered by an affordable housing grant from the state. Student Health Services, or SHS, operates out of the Gator Student Health Center.
Primary care, vaccinations, x-rays, pharmacy services,
gynecology services, and
STI testing are some of the services provided. Many of the services are low-cost or provided at no charge to students. In 2023, state law required abortion services to be provided at all SHS locations, which are located at all CSU campuses. SHS is accredited by the
Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.
Recreation The main recreation facility at SF State, Mashouf Wellness Center, opened in 2017. It is named after
Manny Mashouf, who donated $10 million towards the $86.5 million construction costs. The LEED Platinum certified, 118,700-square-foot facility features two heated pools, a hot tub, a sauna, a 41-foot climbing wall, fitness studios, exercise equipment, an indoor running track, a racquetball court, a two basketball courts, a multipurpose activities court. It was also the university's first LEED rated building. In addition, the university's Gymnasium building has a pool and multi-use spaces. The building is mostly used for basketball, volleyball, badminton, and indoor soccer events.
J. Paul Leonard Library Named after the university's fourth president, the J. Paul Leonard Library houses a collection that includes government documents, maps, sound and visual recordings, in addition to books. Approximately 75% of the library's circulating collection is stored in its 45-foot-tall
library retrieval system, which was installed between 2008 and 2012, when the library building underwent a renovation and expansion, adding more than 140,000 square feet; also, the addition of the system, which can store approximately a million items, removed the need for
book stacks, freeing up space for other uses. The library building was constructed in three phases in 1953, 1959 and 1971 and used to only house the J. Paul Leonard Library. After the expansion and renovation, the Sutro Library was moved to the fifth and sixth floors of the building. The Sutro Library, a branch of the
California State Library, houses the largest collection of
genealogical records west of
Salt Lake City.
Sutro Library The Sutro Library is a branch of the
California State Library on the main campus of the university. The foundation of the library's collection was assembled by former San Francisco mayor
Adolph Sutro. The library was deeded to the State of California by Sutro's heirs with the stipulation that it never leave the city limits of San Francisco, filling his desire to provide the city with a public research library. It was formally given to California State Library in 1913, and opened to the public in 1917. Notably, half of the Sutro collection survived the "Great Fire" after the
San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Collection highlights include 125,000 rare books, antiquarian maps, and archival collections, as well as a genealogical library.
Poetry The Poetry Center, founded in 1954 by a $100 gift from
W. H. Auden, and the American Poetry Archives, established in 1973,
Associated Students The student government is known as Associated Students Inc. of SF State. Associated Students provides funding for student organizations and operates the Cesar Chavez Student Center, the Early Childhood Education Center, two food pantry programs, a book loan program, a weekly
farmers' market, and many other programs and events.
Cesar Chavez Student Center The Cesar Chavez Student Center was completed in 1975 with a capacity of 12,000 students. Around 2002, it was renovated and expanded to 142,160 square feet across five floors with a capacity of over 30,000.
Project Rebound , was installed inside the Cesar Chavez Student Center on the terrace level (3rd floor). Project Rebound is a special admissions and support program for formerly incarcerated students. The program was started in San Francisco State's Sociology Department by
John Keith Irwin in 1967, who had spent five years incarcerated in 1950. In 1999/2000, Project Rebound relocated from Sociology to Associated Students. Project Rebound has expanded to 20 of the 23 California State University campuses as of June 2025. It was recognized in November 2024 by the American Society of Criminology with the President's Award for Distinguished Contributions to Justice.
Rhythms Music Festival The annual event started as a joke when a student, Franko Ali, made a Facebook group called "RAVE IN THE ANNEX – Approved if 15,000 SF State Students join this group." Over 5,000 people joined. The 2nd Annual Folk Festival included performances by
Jerry Garcia and
Robert Hunter.
Bicycling SFSU was designated by the
League of American Bicyclists as a bronze-level bicycle friendly university in 2016. From 1996 to 2017, there was a staffed, enclosed bike storage area in a parking garage the rear of the Gymnasium building. The Bike Barn had the capacity for up to 200 bicycles, skateboards, and scooters. It was closed due to lack of usage and funding.
Media Golden Gate Xpress Golden Gate Xpress is the university's daily online student newspaper. The university's newspaper has changed names several times, but its history can be traced back to 1899.
Golden Gate Xpress has been awarded by the
Associated Collegiate Press, College Media Association, and the
Hearst Journalism Awards Program.
Xpress Magazine Xpress Magazine is a free student magazine published during the fall and spring semesters. Four issues are published per semester, two of which are also printed. The magazine was originally known as Prism and dates back December 1969. In October 1999, the magazine was published for the first time under its current name.
Xpress Magazine has been awarded by the
Associated Collegiate Press.
SF State Magazine The university's Strategic Marketing and Communications department publishes
SF State Magazine. The semiannual publication is mailed to over 80,000 alumni.
Transfer Magazine Since 1950, undergraduate students in the Creative Writing department have published
Transfer Magazine, featuring literature and art by SFSU students.
Fourteen Hills Creative Writing graduate students have published
Fourteen Hills, an international literary journal, since 1994.
Urban Action Students enrolled in Urban Planning and Studies courses at the university have been publishing
Urban Action, an annual journal consisting of research papers, photo essays, and other works. The journal started in 1979.
Sutro Review Since 2016, the Department of English Language and Literature has published
Sutro Review: SF State Journal for Undergraduate Composition, an academic journal for writing and art by undergraduates, edited by graduate students.
KSFS KSFS is a
college radio station run by Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) students, streaming online, at 100.7 on Comcast Cable radio in San Francisco, and at 88.1 FM near or at the main campus. ==Athletics==