OK, here's my slant on the issues.
 
     RPI vs. Rensselaer
 
     I was a senior at the time this issue surfaced.  It seemed that board
     wanted several things.  First, they wanted more recognition of the
     school around the country.  (Why Rensselaer is more recognizable than
     RPI is beyond me.  Besides, RPI is easier to pronounce. :-) )  Second,
     the board wanted the institution to be a well rounded university so
     people with liberal arts interests would be interested in attending.
     This is rediculous.  You don't call yourself a university just because
     you want to be one.  It doesn't work that way, and it's very
     misleading.  A university is generally defined as a collection of
     colleges whose objectives are to promote higher education and award
     degrees in the arts and sciences.  How can a school that doesn't offer
     any bachelor of arts degrees (and only one master's - MFA in
     *electronic* music) call itself a university?  The most absurd thing
     that occurred at that time was that RPI spent $100,000 (yes, that is
     the right number of zeros) for some firm to come up with the
     "Rensselaer with the bar under it" logo!
 
     ECAC vs. HE
 
     Granted, this is my opinion, but it's all a matter of appearance.  I
     know that many HE scools have some tough admission standards, and all
     HE schools are good institutions of higher learning.  The same is true
     of the ECAC schools.  An education is more what the student makes of
     it more than the institution s/he is at.  But let's look at this from
     the point of view of a random person in the US.  HE and the ECAC have
     been close for a few years now in terms of hockey prowess.  HE's
     advantage is slight in real terms, more so in exposure terms.  Who are
     the well known schools in the ECAC in terms of academic reputation
     (not necessarily standards)?  The first schools that would come to
     mind to John Doe would be Harvard, Yale and Princeton.  HE?  Probably
     Boston University and Boston College.  All five of these schools are
     great academic institutions, as are the rest of the HE and ECAC
     schools.  But the *perception* is that the ECAC has the better
     schools.  Moving to HE would give RPI the *appearance* of lowering
     their academic standards.  Whether this is actually true or not is
     rather irrelevant to the general public.  I think this offset the
     minor extra exposure RPI would get from HE.  Let's face it.  Most of
     the country doesn't even know college hockey even exists.
 
     Dave / RPI '91
     LET'S GO RED!!