More than 5,000 surveys poured into the Mississippi University for Women between Saturday and Monday, all weighing in on the three latest options for a new university name: Wynbridge, Wynbright and Welbright.

But an alumni-led effort has presented a fourth option not listed on the survey that may nonetheless be gaining the most traction.

The W: A Mississippi University is making the rounds on social media, complete with a familiar blue-and-white logo bearing the proposed name.

A group of 10 alumni — whose graduating classes range from 1973 to 2008 — fashioned the proposed name as an alternative they feel better reflected the university’s history.

Since its members posted the name, logo and its rationale to Facebook on Monday, the posts have garnered roughly 100 shares and more than 100 comments, most of them supportive. Many alumni and community members began donning the group’s proposed logo as their profile image over the weekend.

Founded in 1884 as the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls, it was later named Industrial Institute and College, Mississippi State College for Women (1920) and MUW (1974). It was the nation’s first dedicated women’s college. Men were allowed to attend starting in 1982.

The renaming efforts at MUW started in September 2022 when the university established a task force to select a name more representative of the integrated student body.

Sonny Lemmons, a 1994 MUW graduate who currently works in higher education, said all four names the university has so far proposed — dating back to the first attempt of Mississippi Brightwell University, which became public Jan. 8 but was scuttled after public backlash — are “bland” and lack “inspiration.”

“My personal and professional opinion is that when these names are presented, you’re literally going to have to build the narrative from the ground up,” he said. “You lose a lot of organic, grassroots knowledge about this by trying to come up with something that just simply does not fit.”

Lemmons became involved with the small group of alumni shortly after the Brightwell moniker was announced.

“The initial plan, I believe, was simply to address to the administration our concerns about how this felt dumped on us,” he said. “Not that we as alums have a right or a say in the matter, but just common courtesy.”

Over time, Lemmons said the group’s focus shifted to creating their own proposal.

Laura Tubb Prestwich, a naming strategist and creative consultant, said each member of the group offered professional experience in relevant areas like naming and branding, intellectual property, higher education specialties and marketing.

The name The W: A Mississippi University came up organically and repeatedly during the group’s discussions. Not only does it retain the legacy and history of the W, Prestwich said, but it also offers several advantages from a branding standpoint.

“The more we talked about that, the more we talked about the potential that name has from a branding and marketing perspective,” she said. “Not only did it have a lot of creative potential, it has a very significant component that allows the W to maintain as much of their existing brand asset toolkit as they can.”

Both are critical from a fiscal responsibility and a brand recognition viewpoint, she said.

“It allows us to retain our history and our legacy, but in a fresh and inclusive way,” she said. “And it’s got some really solid financial responsibility perks tied to that.”

Because the university has secured a trademark for The W, the group described the title as a “branding unicorn.”

Miller: Group’s proposal ‘more like a tagline’

The group pitched its name proposal to the university’s administration, naming task force and several alumni during a meeting Jan. 22, Lemmons said. The presentation was complete with a slideshow detailing rational and marketing options.

Lemmons said it seemed that some attending the meeting were visibly moved by the presentation, but no administrators or naming task force members reached out to the group again until Jan. 26, when the task force sent surveys to constituents suggesting three different names.

“We were contacted a handful of hours before the survey went out,” he said. “We were told, ‘Thank you for your effort. Thank you for your participation … but we’re not going to address it. We’re just moving in this direction.’”

MUW President Nora Miller said the alumni’s proposal was thoughtful and dedicated, but the task force and administration felt the name strayed too far from the typical nomenclature for a university.

“We loved the presentation,” Miller told The Dispatch. “They had some great ideas for marketing and for rolling that out. We just thought that we needed to be represented by more than an initial, and the Mississippi University was really more like a tagline and not a name.”

Miller said the university is looking for a more formal name that is better suited for a transcript or diploma.

“The logo is ours, and we love that,” she said. “We will continue to use the W as our brand, and I think they had some great ideas that sparked some thoughts for us on our marketing. But the name itself just didn’t seem to work out.”

Lemmons said he does not feel that the university fully considered the alumni group’s proposal.

“We did it in good faith and good favor that our information would be at least considered,” he said. “(The survey) came out and we were upset. … This is all volunteer work and our voices felt like they were not heard. They picked a letter out of our entire pitch, but then went their own direction with it.”

Prestwich said the three names pitched in the survey were not complete proposals given they did not include “Mississippi” or “university.” She said the names also lacked the gravitas that defines MUW’s history and legacy.

“I don’t think a created word strategy is the way to go when you’re dealing with a heritage rebranding because you’re looking at 140 years of legacy and you’re trying to put that on top of a word that has just been created for this,” she said.

Regardless of what name is chosen, Prestwich said, the process should not be rushed.

“There’s no such thing as a branding emergency,” she said. “Whatever happens, everybody in the room from the administration to every single alumni, we’re all passionate about making sure that the W’s legacy is cemented and that we have everything we need to help the students that come tomorrow.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.