There’s been a lot of gossip around campus lately about the College of Charleston and MUSC merger, and it’s not about the college becoming a research university rather than a liberal arts college. It’s all in the name.
That’s right, they’re thinking about changing the name of our school. Instead of College of Charleston, we would be known as Charleston University George Street Campus. Now that’s a mouthful. Even CUGSC just doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well as CofC.
Besides the fact that this possible new name is ridiculously long, a name change for the College of Charleston is controversial on so many levels. We’re a school that values tradition and the history of the city and of the college itself. CofC is technically already a university, but we’ve kept ‘college’ in the name up until now. Aside from the fact that the name ‘College of Charleston’ denotes the years of history and development as an institution, the name is simply as beautiful and elegant as the city in which we dwell.
In addition, this controversial name change would affect everyone with close connections to the school. Current students who came to the College of Charleston are enraged that the ‘College of Charleston’ will be gone. Alumni may not want to make contributions to a university with a name that means nothing to them. And prospective students will no longer be attracted to the historical and previously traditional Charleston University George Street Campus.
However, possibly the worst effect of this name change is the fact that the T-shirts, sweatshirts, car magnets and cups that we all love to collect would no longer say College of Charleston, CofC, or even The College. These pieces of university merchandise will now be covered with the words Charleston University George Street Campus, or worse, CUGSC.
Something needs to be done about this or else the college will lose more than the politicians hope to gain with this merger.