Fayetteville State Students Lobby to Keep Name

About 200 students, along with some faculty and alumni, mobilized for the event, said Arkeem Fleming, Fayetteville State Student Senate president pro tem.

Fleming said the Fayetteville State student government sponsored the rally to express concerns over a proposed bill in the N.C. House.

The House proposal calls for a study to examine the feasibility and possible benefits of changing the name of Fayetteville State to the University of North Carolina at Fayetteville.

Rep. Bill Hurley, D-Cumberland, proposed the bill in June. He said the idea to change the university's name had been discussed for years in the county.

"If there is any way the school could benefit, it is certainly a good idea," he said.

Fleming said students were upset that the name change was proposed without any campus consultation.

"We, as a student body, find it offensive that (the N.C. General Assembly) didn't include us at all," Fleming said. "We have been educating students since August on the issue."

A Fayetteville State student government-sponsored advertisement on the university's Web site encouraged students to come to the rally and discourage the Board of Trustees and the General Assembly from considering the name change.

Fleming said there was no legitimate reason to change the university's name.

He said that Fayetteville State's name has been changed in the past but that previous changes were the results of improved accreditation -- like the jump from college to university status.

"I find it personally offensive that the name change alone would make us more prestigious," Fleming said. "I feel as if I am being told that I am not as good at FSU as I would be at UNC-Fayetteville."

But Hurley -- a UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus -- said the UNC name would bring clout to the entire area because of the reputation it brings with it.

"UNC has a magic connotation in education circles across the country," Hurley said.

It is possible that a name change could bring tangible benefits, such as an increase in funds, he said.

Hurley added that since UNC-Pembroke changed its name to include the UNC title four years ago, there has been a 40 percent enrollment increase.

But Lauren Wyke, Fayetteville State director of public relations, said the university has been experiencing enrollment growth on its own -- citing a 9.5 percent increase in 2001 in on-campus enrollment and another 8.4 percent on-campus increase in 2002.

Fleming added that when UNC-P changed its name, it lost a significant number of minorities. UNC-P's population used to be comprised primarily of Native Americans, but now that group represents less than 20 percent of the student body, he said.

Board of Trustees members, who were at the rally, later voted not to conduct research into a name change. They also approved a second motion to keep the Fayetteville State name.

Wyke said the rally was key in decision-making. "It showed there's a lot of alumni and student sentiment," she said. "The Board of Trustees responded to that in choosing to keep the FSU name."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.