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Virginia lawmakers react to UMW controversy Date published: 7/13/2004 By KELLY HANNON University of Mary Washington President William Anderson promised to keep Mary Washington College as the undergraduate campus name "forever" in a memo to "the Mary Washington College Community" circulated in 2001. "All discussions about university status and an umbrella name have been with the assurance that the name 'Mary Washington College' must be retained forever, that the name always be highly visible for purposes of marketing the college, and that the name will always be used to refer to the undergraduate liberal arts program as it exists on the Fredericksburg campus," Anderson wrote. After a copy of the document was faxed yesterday to the campus, Anderson declined to comment. The document has surfaced following Anderson's announcement this month that the new name for the Fredericksburg campus would be University of Mary Washington, College of Arts and Sciences. The decision has riled some alumni, who were concerned the name Mary Washington College would fade after July 1 when state laws including the school's new university name became official. Gov. Mark Warner signed the university name into law in March. Students and alumni held a rally to protest the university name on campus last fall, and many contacted state representatives this spring, hoping to persuade them to vote against the new name. One alumna who worried was Jocelyn Piccone of Kettering, Ohio. The member of the class of 1986 and past contributor to the school's annual fund received a copy of Anderson's memo after writing to the college to express her concern over the proposed name change. She watched a potential name change unfold during her undergraduate years. In 1985, the board of visitors unanimously voted to change the school's name to Washington-Monroe College, but no one in the Virginia General Assembly was willing to sponsor a bill to make it official. "When you graduate from an institution, you want to maintain that name for your life span. It's on your degree," Piccone said yesterday. She received a response letter from the director of annual giving dated January 29, 2001. A memo from Anderson, addressed to the Mary Washington College community at large, was enclosed.
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