Other MU campuses upset with Columbia campus

Published: Sunday, September 9, 2007 12:00 AM CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A proposal to change the University of Missouri-Columbia name by dropping the Columbia designation has upset faculty at the three other campuses in the University of Missouri system.

The proposals from Columbia include simply naming that campus the University of Missouri, or even capitalizing it to The University of Missouri. The idea is to avoid confusion with Missouri State University in Springfield, said Frank Schmidt, president of the MU Faculty Council.

Faculty leaders from each of the four campuses plan to discuss the proposed name change Monday at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Guy Bailey, chancellor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said the proposed name change would put pressure on other campuses to change their names. He said UMKC may be encouraged to change to The University of Kansas City.

On Tuesday, a group representing the faculty, staff and students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis adopted a resolution opposing the name change.

“Our position is we are not trying to stop them from changing their name, but the issue is that this is a name that is already in use by other campuses, and they don't have a right to take it,” said Tim Farmer, chairman of the Faculty Senate and University Assembly at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton proposed dropping the Columbia from the university's name to eliminate any regional designation. But the idea came from the steering committee for the $1 billion For All We Call Mizzou fundraising campaign.

“We believe the regional designation was a hindrance to some fundraising efforts,” said Cynthia Brinkley, president of AT&T in Missouri and one of three leaders of the campaign.

“What we are doing is going back to the original name for the university,” she said. “It is not designed to be punitive to any of the other universities in the system in any way.”

Brinkley said the University of Missouri-Columbia should be set apart from the other campuses because it is the only Missouri public university among the 62 research institutions in the Association of American Universities and it is the state's flagship institution.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators would have to approve the name change, but curators have not set a date to review the proposal.

Farmer said simply changing the name is not the problem. He said all the campuses approved when the University of Missouri-Rolla changed its name to Missouri University of Science and Technology to better reflect its mission. That change takes effect in January.

“Rolla didn't try to take someone else's name,” Farmer said. “We just think that the University of Missouri name is owned by all four campuses. We are all collectively the University of Missouri. The Columbia campus is saying, ‘No, we are really the University of Missouri and the rest of you are not.”'

Gary Ebersole, chairman of the UMKC Faculty Senate and president of the four-campus Intercampus Faculty Senate, agreed.

“I don't think they have the support of any of the other campuses on this,” he said. “It is demeaning to the other campuses. It says that we are satellite campuses and not real institutions, and I don't think it will fly.”


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justin wrote on Sep 12, 2007 9:06 AM:

" 60mugrad, your exactly right. these schools need to stop crying like children b/c MU is a bigger better school. get over it, and focus on more important things as you mentioned. Yet they take time out of their schedules at all the smaller schools, to cry about a name change. like the little sister who doesnt get the neat things the big sister does, get over it. "

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60mugrad wrote on Sep 12, 2007 1:52 AM:

" You should all get over it! You sound like two year old children arguing "my dad is greater than your dad". Don't you system and campus administrators, leaders and especially curators have more important challenges before you, like curtailing costs of higher education so my grandchildren and their children can afford the cost of higher education? Shame on you! "

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MURules wrote on Sep 10, 2007 4:45 PM:

" This is not about SMSU or UMKC or MUST or UMSL. This is about MU. Pure and simple the MU identiy is being diluted and the state is the looser. MU provides more research, more uncompensated care and more economic development to the state economy than any other public institution in Missouri. MU offers an extension program in EVERY COUNTY in the state and has a nationally ranked Journalism program. Unlike SMSU, UMKC, MUST or UMSL, MU has a constitutional mandate to provide research and be the land-grant institution in Missouri. This in fact in a RESTORATION of the original name and not a name change. Get over yourselves.... "

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mako wrote on Sep 10, 2007 1:13 PM:

" UM-C needs to get over themselves. They need to realize they are but one campus in the University of Missouri system. You don't hear UCLA or UC-Berkely whining about their regional designations. I got sick of UM-C and alumni crying about Missouri State University in Springfield, and I was embarrased to even be a Columbia resident. Now, as a graduate of UM-Rolla, I take even more offense to their elitist attitude. The other campuses are not riding on Columbia's coattails; we are all one University. "

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justin wrote on Sep 10, 2007 9:23 AM:

" These other campus's need to get over it! They are not THE University of Missouri. They are other smaller universities within Missouri. MU is the only one of its size and stature, and as such, there is no reason they should have to fight this one. These other universities need to realise that they are not what MU is. "

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