We often ruminated how we wanted our fine university to add a football program. A football program needed to distinguish ourselves as a top-tier institution, capable of recruiting the students that will succeed as alums. SGA asked the question and along with tremendous community and alumni support we are months away from a final decision on football which is looking more and more like we’ll be kicking off in the Fall of 2012. But now a similar movement has started. A movement to change our name.
Should we change our name to remove the perception that we are a regional institution? An institution that is only a subset or satellite campus of Chapel Hill? That is the question being debated by the Student Senate in the same manner that the serious nature of the football discussion started. This News 14 report goes into more detail on the SGA senate debate. Such a name change would be “unprecedented” as the Board of Governors said. We have to decide as a university if we want to compete for students regionally or nationally, this is the true debate at hand.
Employers consistently think I am a Tarheel when I tell them I am from UNC Charlotte, which is one of the most annoying associations ever. When I tell people I go to Charlotte, the perception is very different, and far more positive.
What makes the UNC system so confusing is that many schools do not have the “UNC” in their name, yet they still get more funding than we do. East Carolina University. NC State University. And the list goes on. Other states have been successful in keeping the State System Dash policy, but only by utilizing it with all schools. UT-Austin and UC-Berkley are just two great examples. But all the UT and UC schools are UT- and UC-. It isn’t mixed and matched like the UNC system.
At least we aren’t Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis… oo-e-poo-e… IUPUI. But when SE Missouri State changed their name to Missouri St. they had their best basketball season ever, is that a coincidence?
If we ever have UNC-Raleigh, UNC-Boone, UNC-Greenville and UNC-Cullowhee the Charlotte name change debate would lose a lot of steam. But UNC-Greenville is about as likely as ECU winning the national football championship. It might happen in 100 years, but probably not.
UNC Wilmington changed their name. They used to be University of North Carolina at Wilmington and they dropped the AT and now they are just UNC W. A step in the right direction, but still a bit short of an ideal identity establishment.
Will we change our name? Probably not anytime soon. If we want to increase our funding levels for academic programs, we can no longer rely on the Board of Governors and Raleigh to support us, they barely do so as things are. And I say that as a challenge, not a demeaning remark. If the Board of Governors want to stop the name change debate, the powers in Raleigh can do so easily. Step up to the plate and fund us like the economic engine we are. Otherwise, we must rally the community around us. The best way to do that is to embrace this city in our name, more than ever before.
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 am
I did my undergrad and Masters at UVM. I’m forever correcting folks who think the M stands for Montpelier, Vermont.