California voters approved proposition 20, a ballot initiative creating the California Coastal Commission. The initiative, which was supported by environmentalists and opposed by many developers, created a series of state and regional commissions tasked with creating a long-term plan for preserving California's coastal zones.¹

In his memoir, Banowsky mistakenly recalls the vote as occurring on November 3 and also somehow (three pages later) on November 6, rather than November 7.² More reliable than his recall of dates is Banowsky's overall assessment: he notes that the new regulations would have made it nearly impossible to build the Malibu campus just months after it in fact opened. It is for this reason, among others, that the construction of the new campus has come to be called the "Malibu Miracle," which Banowsky takes as the title of his memoir.

Pepperdine found its construction projects frozen in the fall of 1972, delaying work on the administration building (TAC) and Smothers Theatre for years. (Planning for the TAC began in 1972,³ but construction wasn't completed until 1986.⁴)

The election date is not the only detail Banowsky fudges. He also writes that the miracle came off "without filing any California environmental document," which might be technically correct, but The Malibu Times reported in August of the same year on an "Environmental Impact Statement" Pepperdine filed with the federal government, claiming the construction of the campus in Malibu would not harm the environment.⁵