Greg Lucas writes:
>I talked briefly with Institute president R. Byron Pipes about this...
...
>He also
>complained about the fact that the school is always referred to as RPI in the
>league scheduling and publicity, while the other schools are Harvard, Brown,
>Clarkson, Vermont, etc. His point was that it should either be HU, BU, CU, VU,
>RPI, etc. or the full names and Rensselaer.
 
Perhaps he should remember that 1) the school referred to *itself* as
RPI for quite a long time, and 2) it still says RPI on the jerseys.
Heck, look at the address Greg's mail came [log in to unmask]
Point being, the school itself still uses both references in a number
of different ways.
 
BTW, I do know the story behind the school's attempt to switch over to
using the name "Rensselaer" - and I can understand the desire to have
the ECAC use it.  To that extent, perhaps the ECAC should use the
preferred name, just like when Kent asked people not to call them Kent
State anymore.  But then again, UMass asked HE to call them UMass or
Massachusetts, and HE refused (because of Mass Lowell).  So I can't
say that a league should always use the preferred name...although HE
has a reason, and the ECAC probably did not.
 
Also, please don't ask me why the composite schedule and standings I
place in the archives still refer to RPI as RPI. :-)
 
>The threatened move to HE was more to gain recognition and become a
>true force than a true intention to abandon the ECAC.
 
If this is true - and I have heard talk of this prior to reading Greg's
mail, too - then I think a lot of people would prefer that RPI had not
wasted everybody's time.  To be honest, chances are that if this ever
comes up again, RPI may not be welcome elsewhere, because people will
think back to this and be very suspicious of whether RPI is truly
interested in leaving or just in making veiled threats against the
ECAC.  It's the old story of crying wolf.
 
A number of people around HE also seemed pretty annoyed by Pipes'
announcement that, "Central to our decision is the ECAC's commitment
to the student-athlete as the focus of success both on and off the
ice," as if this were not the case in HE.  All in all, I do not
believe he has endeared himself to very many HE folks.
 
BTW, HE commissioner Bob DeGregorio recently said publicly that he was
disappointed in RPI's decision, but that there were no other plans
currently for future expansion by the conference.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93