On 11/28/06, Dr. Bob Hamilton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Sure wasn't looking for a lesson in institutional arrangements in MN
> having
> lived there for 6+ years.   No where was it suggested that State would be
> used in the name.  Why is not the University of Minnesota name used by
> Duluth?  On the surface, they are both a University of Minnesota team just
> like those two teams in Alaska are both University of Alaska teams. In the
> Minnesota case, it seems the first campus gets the name without qualifiers
> for its sports teams.  Seems the same in Alaska.


I don't think the two examples are similar at all. From what I understand,
UMTC is clearly the main campus of the UofM system, while Duluth, Crookston,
Morris and Rochester are  smaller campuses. Athletically, they don't compete
with each other, except in hockey.

If you're looking for a Minnesota example, you would be better to look at
Mankato State. They morphed into "Minnesota State, Mankato", and then
"Minnesota State" a few years ago (but failed to change their nickname to
the "Screaming Eagles", much to my disappointment), in an attempt to
separate themselves from St. Cloud, Bemidji and the smaller "State" schools
in that system - the bulk of whom are in the same Division as Mankato.

The Alaska situation, to me, is more like Nevada, where Nevada-Reno chose to
drop the Reno and go by "Nevada" a few years ago, despite the presence of
Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). It is simply an Athletic Department marketing
manuever. UAF's university website still uses Fairbanks.

If Anchorage wishes to respond, they would be more likely to drop the
"Alaska" from their name, or use "UAA" almost exclusively. A number of
schools have gone that route, in order to avoid being double-barrelled.

That said, I'm not certain that your original point is valid. UCLA seems to
do all right, and is certainly not seen as subservient to "California"
(UC-Berkeley), and I'm not convinced that UNLV has suffered due to
Nevada-Reno's move.

On the same topic, has the term "Mass-Amherst" finally fallen into disuse?

ps.  I do believe that other UofM teams such as Crookston have hockey teams,
> just not in Div 1.  And that they use a designation similar in form to
> that
> used by Duluth.


UM-Crookston is currently a Division II school, playing Division III hockey
(and thus, ineligible for the NCAA tournament). They are in the process of
reclassifying their entire program to Division III, which would make them
eligible. UM-Morris doesn't play hockey, but does play football and
basketball. They are also in the middle of dropping from D-II to D-III.

John

-- 
John Edwards
I used to put quotes here.