If students at UNC-Charlotte want to change its name to the “University of Charlotte,” then they should be allowed to.
Megan Smith, UNC-C student body president, is leading the charge to differentiate. She stated that credit for the school’s “crowning glories and achievements” is being given to UNC. Chapel Hill, that is.
The “urban research university” has been growing. Actually, according to its website, it’s “one of the fastest growing schools in the UNC system.”
UNC-C was also recently chosen as part of the UNC School of Medicine’s expansion. And the school is in the final process of establishing funding for its new football team.
So it seems that our younger sister Charlotte is coming of age. In that vein, the UNC-C students — or at least their leaders — are feeling angsty.
UNC-C is not a satellite campus of UNC-Chapel Hill, but it does benefit from being part of the highly reputable UNC system. This might be why UNC-C Chancellor Philip Dubois does not support the name change.
Officials there said they think the UNC-system brand is helpful to the school and gives it some good national recognition.
But sometimes the quest for personal identity and self-expression outweighs strategic branding. When young people want to make their own identity, they go to college.
What’s UNC-C to do but rename itself to assert its rising importance among the system schools?
