University
of Missouri-Columbia to change its name again
by
Emily Schmidt, posted Sept. 12, 2007
The
University of Missouri-Columbia plans to restore its name
back to the University of Missouri dropping the “dash
Columbia” from its official name. All of these efforts
are in hopes to be the cornerstone University of Missouri,
according to the MU Web site.
In 1963,
“Columbia” was added to emphasize the location
of the university commonly known as MU or Mizzou. Other campuses
with regional designations include the University of Missouri-Kansas
City, the University of Missouri-Rolla and the University
of Missouri-St. Louis, all of which are part of the University
of Missouri System.
The proposition
for the MU name change was brought up by the National Campaign
Steering Committee on May 2, 2007, according to the MU Web
site. The group, which is made up of 57 MU alumni and friends
who raise money for the University, proposed the “dash
Columbia” be deleted.
Since
then, several other groups have voiced support for “Columbia”
to be deleted. Some of the groups, including the Mizzou Alumni
Association, MU faculty council, staff advisory council, MU
Council of Deans and the MU Retirees Association, support
the original claim to delete “Columbia,” according
to MU name restoration on the MU Web site.
Paul
Ross, a sophomore journalism student, believes the name should
be restored back to its original name.
“We
were founded to be the University of Missouri,” Ross
said. “We were the first university in the system and
we finally earned our title back.”
Although
a proposition, some students on the MU campus are unaware
of the name restoration initiative. Courtney Johnson, an MU
freshman, was unaware of the proposition.
“It
doesn’t really affect me,” Johnson said. “We
will always be Mizzou.”
Emily
Evans, a freshman studying political science, was unaware
“Columbia” was a part of the University’s
official title.
“I
thought we were just the University of Missouri,” Evans
said. “I mean there is Rolla, UMKC and UMSL. I didn’t
even know Mizzou was part of that particular system.”
Another
school in the UM System has recently selected a new name.
The University of Missouri-Rolla has changed its name three
times in the past 50 years. Established as the Missouri School
of Mines in the 1870s, the campus became the University of
Missouri-Rolla in 1964 when the UM System was established.
In 2008, the university’s name will become the Missouri
University of Science and Technology.
Missouri
State University in Springfield, Mo., recently changed its
name from Southwest Missouri University because of the changing
structure of the institution, according to MSU’s Web
site.
Staci
Nelson, an MSU sophomore studying speech pathology, attends
MSU on a running scholarship.
“A
lot of students wouldn’t be here if we were still Southwest
Missouri State University,” Nelson said. “Missouri
State is more of a regional title and makes us feel like a
bigger school.”
Jan Dauve,
professor of agricultural economics, director of undergraduate
studies and adviser chair at MU, believes the MU name should
be changed once and for all to make the University a statewide
school as opposed to a regional one.
“We
need to set ourselves apart from competing schools, especially
MSU,” Dauve said. “Right now we have a regional
school name but we have a statewide school mission; getting
rid of Columbia will make it the main University of Missouri
campus.”
MU believes
the name change will have a positive effect on the University
as a whole. Chancellor Brady Deaton said Aug. 7, 2007, to
the Columbia Daily Tribune: “At a time when regionalism
has been so prevalent in the state of Missouri, it is important
that the state realizes our university, our campus, is not
a regional institution. To have any designation that tends
to localize it or suggest that it’s not the statewide
institution is, in a sense, demeaning to the most significant
statewide university in the state.”
Joe Parcell,
an assistant professor in the department of agricultural economics,
has a strong personal opinion about the restoration.
“I
do believe the change is necessary for two reasons…
First, MU is the state university of Missouri,” Parcell
said. “MU should not be confined to a geographic area.
The UM System was formed some 40 years ago with a specific
agenda. Today, the higher education environment has changed
and so has MU's role within, and value to, Missouri…The
name restoration will help clear up the confusion.”
Both Deaton
and Parcell agree the MU name restoration is the best option
for MU today. Changing internal and external structures within
both the university and the UM System have prompted such actions.
