Of course, everyone will have their own opinion about Monday’s announcement that Mississippi University for Women is seeking to become Mississippi Brightwell University, but no one can claim the name change was done in haste or without long and careful consideration. For that reason, we commend the efforts of university president Nora Miller and the school’s naming task force.
As we’ve said before, a name change is long overdue.
The university is asking for legislative approval for the name change in this session. If approved, the name would change this summer.
In truth, the change has been coming for almost 42 years since the United States Supreme Court opened the door for male students to enroll.
Sandra Day O’Connor, the Court’s first woman jurist, wrote the majority opinion, which allowed male students to enter the university’s nursing program, but did not require a change of names. After the July 1, 1982 ruling, the state opened all programs at the university to male students.
At that point, Mississippi University for Women was Mississippi University for Women in name only.
This will be the fourth name change for the university, founded in 1884 as the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls. The name of the school was soon shortened to Industrial Institute and College (II&C) and then to Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW) in 1920. MSCW became Mississippi University for Women in 1974.
None of those changes were made on a whim, but rather to better reflect the realities of the time and the school’s mission.
The idea of removing the reference to “women” in the university’s name has been suggested multiple times over the past four decades. Monday’s announcement comes more than two years after Miller announced the university would take up the matter.
“Brightwell” was inspired in part by the school’s literary society’s motto — “We study for light to bless with light.” — as well as by various torch and light symbology used at graduations and commencement ceremonies.
Changing the name is not an effort to wipe out 140 years of providing higher education to women. That history has been carefully preserved.
Anyone with any familiarity with the university understands the school takes great pride in that historic role. To amplify that message, the university announced its plans to create a Women’s College at the university with its own curriculum that will allow its students to receive special recognition at their commencement ceremony and on their academic transcript.
Mississippi Brightwell University will take some getting used to, naturally. No doubt, MUW was known as “MSCW” colloquially for quite some time after the name change. The same applies in this case. The school will be known by many residents and alumni as “The W” far into the future.
There’s nothing wrong with that. But 42 years after the university first opened its doors to both men and women, the new name removes what had been a marketing problem for the university, where males represent just 1 in 5 students. If the name change helps bring in more male students while its new College for Women and its history continue to honor its role in women’s education, the change will have been well worth the temporary discomfort it inevitably creates.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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