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The Mississippi University for Women, which announced a name change just a week ago, will not be using that new name after all.
The decision comes after a yearlong process that ended with the much-derided selection of a first name change. The reaction to the original name change then led to a second name change announced this month. The rebranding process has now been put on hold until at least next year.
University administrators had originally settled on Mississippi Brightwell University as its new name, but university alumni and community members vehemently opposed it. Then, last week, after conducting a poll of students, faculty and alumni, university officials announced they were going with Wynbridge State University of Mississippi.
But a letter sent to the campus community and alumni via email Wednesday suggests that idea flopped as well. Nora Miller, the university’s president and an alumna, said in the letter that the institution would be taking “a strategic pause” in order to “give our entire community time to regroup and consider all perspectives.”
But in an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Miller clarified that the university was essentially forced to put the rebranding on hold because it didn’t have enough sway in the state Legislature to pass the bill required to formalize a name change.
The overwhelming opposition to both the first and second name changes by alumni was enough to make a significant number of lawmakers pull their support.
Miller said university officials will use the next year to engage with alumni, understand their reasons for not wanting a name change and educate them on why a rebranding is vital to sustain the university’s longevity.
“We took some time last year, trying to educate people about the enrollment cliff and about the heightened competition for high school student applicants,” Miller said. “We need to engage with more people and share that information with them.”
She noted that although it is very unlikely that there will be a third name selected, she isn’t ruling the possibility out entirely.
“I think this current name is as good as it’s gonna get. But if somebody comes up with something that just knocks it out of the park, we would be open to that,” Miller said.
University leaders have been trying to rebrand the institution in an effort to better reflect its coed status, among other things. Miller and members of the renaming task force believe a new name will widen the institution’s applicant pool and help boost enrollment at a time when small liberal arts colleges across the country are struggling to stay afloat. But many graduates of the historically women’s university are sincere about holding on to the institution’s past.
“We have very passionate alumni. And I’m grateful that they love this institution as much as I love it,” Miller said. “We’ve learned a lot through this and we will continue to learn more. We will build more bridges with our alumni and come back next year.”
