Spring 2000. Sophomore year in high school. My first run at the ACT is in the books. The postal service finally delivers some evidence to my South Arkansas home that colleges know I exist.
“Mississippi University for Women” read the pamphlet I held. I was confused. Underneath it read, in smaller print, “Accepting men since 1982.” I was more confused.
The mailer gave a smattering of academic and athletic offerings. I ran cross-country, so that was interesting. But I had questions.
“Where the heck is Columbus, Mississippi?” I wondered ironically, not knowing destiny would bring me here one day regardless. The biggest question: “If men have gone there for 18 years, why haven’t they changed the name?”
I showed my parents. They offered the same questions. We laughed. I threw the mailer in the trash.
Being from a small town and wanting to attend a “big school,” it’s doubtful I would have gone to The W no matter its name. If it were Mississippi Brightwell University, or really anything else, I might have at least asked Jeeves more about it (look, I said this was 2000). I might even have considered a visit.
I didn’t think about The W again until I rode by the campus in 2013 on my first visit to Columbus shortly after I moved to Starkville. “I’ve heard of this place,” I said, remembering the recruiting mailer. “I’m glad I finally know where it is.”
I’d bet a dollar stories like that aren’t rare. MUW leadership is betting $65,000 up front – not to mention the time, energy and thick skin it’s taking – to do something about it.
But, as the whippersnappers often say, “Haters gonna hate.”
Detractors of The W’s proposed new name are losing their minds on social media, and some are even calling legislators, who must ultimately approve the name change, to pressure them to vote against it.
Many rank-and-file alumni detest the change. Columbians who never went there (we’ll call them the ‘Bamers of the Tombigbee) are screaming about their apparent loss of heritage. Many are calling MUW President Nora Miller ugly names and talking about how the school should return to its all-female roots, the U.S. Supreme Court decision be damned.
Arguably the most well-meaning detractors claim they know the name should change, but they hate Brightwell. This is a fair criticism. It’s a bland, generic name – one that, I don’t know, might have little bearing on whether someone decides to go there.
Still, a lot of these arguments center on how alumni or adult community members feel about the name change. It reeks of entitlement – the idea the process should be about placating them, and nothing short of that will do.
If you fit into this camp, I’ll tell you what Nora Miller is far too gracious to say so bluntly. It’s not about you, and it shouldn’t be.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, MUW’s enrollment topped 3,000 students. Today, it’s hovering around 2,300. Despite the university being co-ed since the year before I was born, men make up only one-fifth of the student body.
Private colleges for women across the country are facing closure or merging with other institutions.
In order for any university to thrive, high school graduates must enroll. The W’s current name is a known barrier to building that interest, particularly in males, so why keep it? Sen. Chuck Younger, a name-change supporter, observed similarities to changing the state flag in 2021. That’s an apt comparison.
But why Brightwell? Why not? At this point, it’s either that or MUW, the latter of which could lead to no university at all.
Or maybe you’d prefer Mississippi State University-Columbus, something like the Bulldog satellite campus in Meridian, if MUW ultimately can’t survive under its own banner. What, then, of your tradition?
Still not feeling it? I’ll recommend an exercise. Ask your teenage child or grandchild whether they would be more likely to consider attending Mississippi University for Women or Mississippi Brightwell University. You might be surprised by what you learn.
Zack Plair is managing editor of The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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