Mississippi University for Women’s name is not only an anachronism, it’s inaccurate. With a male enrollment of about 20%, the small liberal arts college is not just for women anymore and hasn’t been for some time.
The university in Columbus has long needed a new name, and several administrations have taken a stab at it, only to be beaten back by tradition-bound alumnae.
The current administration is proposing Mississippi Brightwell University, supposedly drawn from the university’s little-known motto: “We study for light to bless with light.”
Maybe the name will grow on us, but couldn’t they come up with something in which the letter “W” was prominent, so that the school could still capitalize on its well-branded nickname, “The W”?
One suggestion made years ago, Welty University, would have done just that while honoring a Mississippi literary treasure, Eudora Welty, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author who attended the school for two years in the 1920s.
That’s still the best suggestion offered to date.
