Metropolitan State College Of Denver Closer To Name Change After Panel Approval

On Thursday, the Senate Education Committee approved changing the name of Metropolitan State College of Denver to Metropolitan State University of Denver in a 6-0 vote. The name change must still be approved by the full Senate and House, but the approval brings Metro State one step closer to its desire to rebrand itself, The Denver Post reports.

In a statement made on the Metro State College of Denver website, the reasoning behind the name change is because Metro State believes there is confusion about whether Metro is a four-year institution or a community college which can negatively affect job seekers who have graduated from the four-year college when employers think Metro is a two-year institution. The school hopes that the inclusion of "university" in the name will clear up any of that confusion.

According to Education News Colorado, Sen. Evie Hudak (D-Westminster) was the only voice of dissent on the name change. Hudak was concerned that the change to include the word "university" might put off Metro State's target demographic -- minorities, low-income and first-generation students. However, Metro State President Steve Jordan was adamant that the name change including the word "university" will only increase the value of Metro State degrees.

This is a significant step forward for Metro State who have pursued the name change for the last three years. In 2011, Metro State's plans to change their name were derailed by a dispute with University of Denver, or DU, who felt that the 2011 proposed name change of "Denver State University," or DSU, could confuse prospective students about the difference between the two schools, 7News reported last year. Lawyers representing DU said in a letter to Metro State that that the 2011 suggested name change "merely juxtaposes elements of the University of Denver mark and includes the word 'state.'"

But on Thursday, DU appeared to be comfortable with the new proposed name. Kevin Caroll, Vice Chancellor of DU University Communications, told the DU student paper DU Clarion that the school was "happy" for the change saying that last year the school was "just trying to protect the DU brand and make sure that there's no harm to the University's brand in the process. What we agreed in principle is that DU would continue to have its brand and its image. It allows both of us to move forward and market and brand ourselves as we have been. They'll have their name and their branding and we will have ours."

Read the letters between the two schools about this long fight about the name change here.

Comments

[Cosmo Milli]

04:56 PM on 03/26/2012

Changing the name will not help anything. I agree that money should be used for renovating the buildings. The campus is crowded enough!!!!!!!!!!!!! They should take out CU and make it have its own campus and leave metro to their community college. Either way I doubt a name change will "value" their degree.... That campus is way way way too small for another "university" metro should stay as a college have their degree be the reason people know about them. They shouldn't try to sugar coat it...

[sculptor]

09:28 PM on 02/27/2012

So they offer graduate degrees now???

;-) ;-) ;-)

I typically refer to them as "Cheapest and Closest" when I tell people where I went to school..

[fatport]

07:22 PM on 02/27/2012

Portland has Portland State and the University of Portland. San Diego has San Diego State, the University of San Diego, and the University of California at San Diego. Get over it DU.

[Nukualofa]

10:54 AM on 02/26/2012

Western State College (WSC) is going to have name change.
Western State University of Colorado (WSUC or We-suck).

[Turtleposer]

12:28 AM on 02/26/2012

Alright, how about Inferiority Complex University? Who cares? Fyi, my daughter will probably end up going there. My main concern is that the name will fit on the check.

[cedy]

09:42 PM on 02/25/2012

DMU= dum, not usable

[ljeanabldrco]

09:49 AM on 02/25/2012

HEY! WHAT ABOUT DENVER METRO UNIVERSITY????....

[ljeanabldrco]

09:52 AM on 02/25/2012

DMU

[Carlos Cemoto]

08:40 PM on 02/24/2012

So happy that DU is happy. Why do they get a vote? Why did the state cave to their wishes? I think DU is afraid that DSU would be confused with their more privileged brand.
Metro State University is a fine name.

[ljeanabldrco]

09:53 AM on 02/25/2012

DMU...nuf said!

[sculptor]

09:33 PM on 02/27/2012

I'd definitely avoid both a "D" and a "U" being in any new name for Metro because that really would tarnish the resumes of future Metro grads.

[psnyder325]

08:21 PM on 02/24/2012

Typical D.U. arrogance...thinking that they have a corner on the name "Denver" in any University or College. Wake up, D.U....Denver is a town, not "your brand." Go Buffs!

[ljeanabldrco]

09:54 AM on 02/25/2012

DMU sounds great to me! they need to keep it simple! dumbasses...lol

[Kay Alldone]

06:32 PM on 02/25/2012

Why shouldn't they have a say, if you were Chex brand cereal and some competitor potentially offering a lower quality cereal came up with Checks brand cereal; usurping the time, energy, effort and money you spent building a reputation, wouldn't you be a little preturbed? How 'bout if you were a spokesman for Chex (because you knew they were of superior quality) and now people associate you with Checks? Hmmm...if you put in the time and money to obtain a degree from Harvard, you might take issue with the advent of Harvard State College.

[psnyder325]

06:36 PM on 02/25/2012

"Harvard" is a brand. "Denver" is a city, and no one should have the exclusive right to the term "Denver" as their exclusive brand. Many schools start with the name of the city in which they reside. You MUST be from D.U. They all are pretty entitled. One more instance of the wealthy oppressing anyone who isn't.

[Fido0311]

09:26 PM on 02/25/2012

CU is the only cereal that matters in this state. The rest of you are that bagged generic stuff.

[SteveDenver]

05:08 PM on 02/24/2012

Too bad Metro's president gets away with a fat salary, ridiculous benefits (including in-city luxury housing), and there isn't an expose on how things get done at that college. Students are allowed a "vote" on projects and programs, but there is no publicity and projects that cause student costs to skyrocket are easily passed with minimal notice and no scrutiny.

[BeasleysMom]

03:46 PM on 02/24/2012

What a waste of time and money. I would rather see it go toward instructors and equipment. Plus the buildings on the Auraria campus are dirty and falling apart.

[Screaming-of-the-Lambs]

05:15 PM on 02/24/2012

Agreed. How about using it to put in another exit to some of the lame parking lots so people can actually leave when traffic is busy instead of sitting there waiting for a light that won't let cars through? Oh... sorry, rant!

I think the name change is stupid too, is my point.

[watchingduck]

12:20 PM on 02/24/2012

eastern colorado would be good.

[watchingduck]

12:18 PM on 02/24/2012

i was hoping they would get away from the whole "metro" thing altogether. really, we have a state university in the middle of colorado that is called "metro", really? most of the rest of the country would have a good chuckle about that. something with a little more local significance would be better. say, denver state, or front range state, rocky mountain state, platte state, high plains state, arapahoe state, cheyenne state, etc, etc

[psnyder325]

08:23 PM on 02/24/2012

I have lots of high school friends who went to M.I.T....."Metro In Town."

[ljeanabldrco]

09:56 AM on 02/25/2012

DMU...