TIPSies,
I'm not sure why I'm sending you this. It just seems like such a silly
story, I couldn't resist.
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http://chronicle.com/daily/2000/06/2000061407n.htm
Beaver College to Change Its Name and Seek University Standing
By VASUGI V. GANESHANANTHAN
After months of discussion, Beaver College's Board of Trustees voted
Friday to jettison the institution's 147-year-old name, which has been a
source of some ridicule. A committee of administrators, faculty and
staff members, students, and alumni has been formed to consider a new
moniker for the Pennsylvania institution, but no possibilities have been
discussed yet, according to William P. Avington, the college's
spokesman. The group will meet this summer and decide what to present to
the Board of Trustees at its September meeting, he said. The name change
should go into effect before the 2001-2 academic year, he added.
The decision comes in the wake of research by the college that found
that 30 percent of prospective students would not even consider
attending Beaverbecause of its name, which has made it the target of
jokes referring to female genitalia and the mammal. The college sends
out nearly three times the mailings of comparable schools in order to
obtain the same class size, Mr. Avington said. (See an article from The
Chronicle, March 2.) Mr. Avington also noted that the Beaver name no
longer describes the college very well, since it moved from Beaver, Pa.,
to Glenside, a Philadelphia suburb, about 80 years ago.
The institution's image overhaul may not stop at the first half of its
name. With 2,700 students and undergraduate and graduate degrees in more
than 30 fields, Beaver officials also plan to petition Pennsylvania
officials to let the college become a university. But changing the
college's name doesn't necessarily mean changing its mascot, said Mr.
Avington. The institution's mascot is not a buck-toothed rodent, but a
scarlet knight.
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Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213
9000 E. Chaparral Rd. FAX Number: (480) 423-6298
Psychology Department [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626
"The truth is rare and never simple."
Oscar Wilde
"Science must begin with myths and with the criticism of myths"
Karl Popper
Listowner: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS)
http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/index.html
