The matador statue was unveiled Thursday to a backdrop of student protesters.

The matador statue cost an estimated $200,000, said Marcelo Vazquez, a 1994 CSUN alumnus and co-chair of the project.

“One of our goals was to reach $150,000. We reached it and surpassed it,” he said. “This was all on the backs of alumni dollars.”

The Associated Students contributed $10,000, while the rest of the money was donated.

It came “from alumni, businesses and public and private corporations,” Vazquez said.

A few minutes after the statue was revealed, about 20 students with SQE made an appearance behind the audience, carrying banners and signs protesting the new figure.

They quietly marched behind the audience during the unveiling and made their way to the right side of the stage on which freshman convocation was taking place.

Vazquez thought that the protest was about animal rights and the mistreatment of bulls, he said.

“We’re not necessarily here to protest, we’re here to educate,” said Edgar Ramos, student organizer for SQE and art major. “(Freshmen) should know what’s going on with their school right now.”