Elizabeth City State may undergo name change

[Bornthrilla]

UNC-Elizabeth City? Name change a possibility
Tuesday, December 16
(updated 9:08 am)
By The Associated Press


ELIZABETH CITY (AP) — A North Carolina legislator says a state university in his district could have better recognition and attract more funding if it changed its name.

The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City reported that state Rep. Bill Owens made his name-change pitch Monday to trustees at Elizabeth City State University.

Owens says the school's name should show it is part of the University of North Carolina system.

Owens says the historically black school, founded in 1891, could get more funds and donations, recruit more faculty and attract students from out of state with a new name.

Trustee chairman Walter Davenport says the board was only listening to Owens and would make a decision later.

The legislator told the board that he co-sponsored a bill 13 years ago to change the name of Pembroke State University to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Owens said since then the university's student population has more than doubled.

Owens said that during the same period Elizabeth City's student population has increased by 50 percent.

"There are a lot of things to be proud of, but we need to be all that we can be here at this university," Owens said.

Owens also said there is historical precedent to change names because the school is on its fourth name. The current name was selected in 1969.

Trustee Norman Mebane Jr. said he wanted to see a study of effects of the name change at UNC-Pembroke.

Owens said he wanted the university to study a name change and not ask for it if trustees think it would hurt.

[@ProfBellamy]

If Rep. Owen feels that ECSU should study a name change then there are a few other schools who should examine this in the same logic.

North Carolina State University: I don't think people know its apart of the UNC system. Maybe UNC-Raleigh would be a good name.

East Carolina University, well where is East Carolina? How about calling it UNC- Greenville.

Appalachian State University: Well, I don't think people in Appalachia will care that there heritage is taken away when it becomes UNC-Boone.

Do we get my logic? We push to have HBCUs and non-TWI institutions names changed when their names already provide enough information about its status as a state school and its location. What needs to be done is more equitable funding to state schools that are poised for further growth.

[Bigboy]

All HBCU's are about it's history. The name is very important to it's history, leave it alone!!!!

[DECKS]

They've only been using the name since 1969 so I don't think it's that big of a deal. Beides the student population is probably 30% caucasian anyway.

[getuprams]

This issue has also been raised at WSSU, but our name certainly hasn't deterred us from attracting non-black students, if you've been to SU, you notice several non-black students, I think only ECSU has more non-black students than WSSU of the NC HBCU's.....besides UNC-WS is just too long of a name

[Jesse Jackson's Side eye]

Didn't They Unofficially Change Fayetteville State University to "The University of North Carolina at Fayetteville State University" Not Too Long Ago

I know that FSUs web address is currently www.uncfsu.edu/but was that the extent of the change?

[Bigboy]

All the N.C. HBCU's names were changed in 1969 from college to state university. A&T was called A&T College, NCCU was called N.C. College (aka NCC), WSSU was called Teacher's College (aka "TC"), ECSU was called Elizabeth City College.

[SixtiesAggie]

"TEE" gained university status in 1967. Fayetteville State, Elizabeth City and Winston-Salem were all teacher's colleges. Of the three, only Winston-Salem claimed the title "TC".

[Aggie77]

My father was proud gradute of "Little Liz", so I remember him refering to it as Elizabeth City State Teachers College, so I checked their website.

www.ecsu.edu/prospective/history.cfm

"Under the leadership of John Henry Bias, the second president, who served from July 1, 1928 until his death on July 15, 1939, the institution was elevated from a two-year normal school to a four-year teachers college in 1937. The institution’s name was officially changed to Elizabeth City State Teachers College on March 30, 1939, and the mission was expanded to include “the training of elementary school principals for rural and city schools.” The first Bachelor of Science degrees in Elementary Education were awarded in May 1939."

[SixtiesAggie]

That's some great information. I knew folks who graduated from all three of the Teachers Colleges. All were very productive citizens and proud graduates. EC and W-S had awesome basketball programs during that period too. Of course back in those days every school had great teams. There was no competition from white schools for recruiting players.

I don't know that changing the name of an institution will help in its recruitment of students. Enrollment is already up. It is probably a guise to enroll more white students in the hopes that they will become the majority, and eventually control the university. In their thinking, it will take away the stigma of attending a HBCU. This name change idea has been presented before, but has not gained a lot of traction. It may this time.

[Brandmasta]

Dec 16, 2008 15:42:26 GMT -5 getuprams said:

This issue has also been raised at WSSU, but our name certainly hasn't deterred us from attracting non-black students, if you've been to SU, you notice several non-black students, I think only ECSU has more non-black students than WSSU of the NC HBCU's.....besides UNC-WS is just too long of a name

UNC-WS aint too much different in length than UNC-CH