|
|
||
MWC students continue to lobby over name change. Date published: 2/10/2004
RICHMOND--A group of Mary Washington College students are still trying to convince legislators that renaming the school "University of Mary Washington" is a bad idea. About six students, led by Katie Leesman and Kelli White, both members of the student government's legislative action committee, spent yesterday at the General Assembly lobbying members of the two education committees to consider changing the school's name to "Mary Washington University." Legislation to change the name to "University of Mary Washington" has already been approved by both the House and Senate. Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, argued against it in the Senate, but was pretty much a lone voice. However, each house has to approve it again before it goes to the governor for his signature. The students hope the committee members will agree to amend the name-change bills to "Mary Washington University." Leesman said they received positive responses from the legislators they approached. The lawmakers said they hadn't heard from students earlier in the process. "University of Mary Washington" is the name approved by the college's administration and board of visitors. But Leesman and White said that syntax was never part of the studies surrounding the school's name change, and was never part of the surveys taken of students on new names. The group brought with them a survey of MWC students that said 64 percent of current students prefer "Mary Washington University" over "University of Mary Washington," which got 21 percent of the vote. The poll was conducted by the Student Government Association this semester with 640 students responding, which is about 16 percent of the 3,962 Fredericksburg campus student population. They also gave lawmakers copies of earlier studies in which "University of Mary Washington" was not even an option. "There's been all this propaganda" in favor of "University of Mary Washington," Leesman said. "The students aren't being listened to, the faculty aren't being listened to, and the alumni aren't being listened to." She said her group gave the study information to members of the House and Senate education committees, as well as the governor's chief of staff, Bill Leighty, a MWC grad with whom they met yesterday. The House and Senate will likely take up the bills sometime after crossover, the midpoint at which both houses exchange bills. Crossover happens next week. Staff writer Kelly Hannon contributed to this report. To reach CHELYEN DAVIS: 804/782-9362 cdavis@freelancestar.com
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
|||||||||||||
