Changing title to gain more respect
Whitley: Could UCF switching up its name earn it more notoriety?
What’s in a name?
Juliet asked that of Romeo, wondering if her family would hate him if his last name weren’t Montague.
About 400 years later, the Shakespearean question has sort of come to Ask Orlando. A reader wondered if people would respect UCF more if its name weren’t the University of Central Florida.
“There’s a great spirit on campus” the reader said, “but I just think we need to change our name.”
The reason: Directional bias. Schools with compass points in their names are brown shoes on the black tuxedo of academia. People assume they are inferior academically, athletically and phonetically.
Think about it. The “University of Texas” rolls off the tongue with land-grant panache.
“Northeastern Louisiana,” not so much.
I use those as examples because schools can get a tad sensitive about their names, and our local institution of higher learning has endured more grief than most.
It began in 1963 as Florida Technological University, which edged out Florida Midlands University, Florida Industrial University and Pocket Protector University. UCF had outgrown its original academic mission of providing support the U.S. space program.
At that point, I would have gone for Orlando University. That probably would have spawned a million Mickey Mouse U. jokes, so they went with the University of Central Florida.
Zzzzz.
“UCF” was just another lump in the USF/UNF/UWF/FIU/ FAU mix the state had cooked up. They weren’t all directional, but all were painfully unimaginative. UCF would soon prove far more distinctive than its name.
It exploded into one of the biggest universities in America. It made Playboy’s Top 10 Party Schools. Its football program started kicking sand in the faces of those uppity SEC and Big Ten schools.
It had the tallest student in America, 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall. The average Ivy Leaguer barely came up to Tacko’s kneepads.
All that is why this week’s questioner felt compelled to reprise Juliet’s question. He actually works at UCF and
gushes about how far the school has come. He just thinks the directional name is an image killer.
“We should do better,” he said.
I’d say that’s just a matter of opinion. Purely subjective. Feel free to call him (and me) closeted USF goobers who just want to gig the mighty Knights.
There’s just one problem. The opinion is based in facts.
Check out the Power Five conferences, a cartel of schools that run the college football world. Of 65 teams, only two have directions in their names — Northwestern and the University of Southern California.
(We don’t count schools like South Carolina and West Virginia, which are named for actual states).
If you say, “That just proves we’re not Dumb Jock U.,” you might want to avoid the U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings of America’s best universities.
There were 381 national universities on this year’s list. Of the top 100, only four are directional schools.
There are only two more in the top 200 — USF at No. 104 and UCF at No. 164. (If football counted, that would be reversed).
After No. 200, it’s directional bouillabaisse of Western Kentuckys, Georgia Southerns, Northern Arizonas, East Carolinas, Central Michigans, Maryland Eastern
Shores, Nova Southeasterns and Middle Tennessee States — 25 directional schools in all.
To recap: Top 200 — 6 directional schools.
Bottom 181 — 25 directional schools.
I’m not saying Northeastern Kentucky and Western New England aren’t fine universities. But the data show there’s a reason John Harvard didn’t name his school East Central Harvard University.
Which brings us back to this week’s question. What are the chances the University of Central Florida will change its name to something non-directional?
A UCF spokesman didn’t address that specifically, probably because he was too busy rolling on the floor laughing. He simply pointed out how the school’s reputation has grown.
“UCF is now one of the largest universities in the nation,” he said, “supplies more graduates to the aerospace and defense industry than any other university in the country, and 30% of the workforce at Kennedy Space Center are UCF alumni.”
Given all that, maybe the school should change its name to Outer Space University. At least it’s not a direction. “Ask Orlando” is a weekly feature intended to solve local mysteries and enlighten readers. If you have a question about anything Orlando, send an email to dwhitley@orlando sentinel.com.