# University of \_\_\_\_ and \_\_\_\_ University **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786 "2010-09-14T23:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/1 "2010-09-14T23:20:42Z")
Maybe it is because I went to[University of Washington](http://www.washington.edu/) which is very diffrent than [Washington University](http://www.wustl.edu/), but I don’t understand the interchangability of University of Blank and Blank University. I recently picked up a sweatshirt for my son from the University of Warwick and most said “Warwick University” and at home the University of Colorado is referred to as CU. Are the two forms truly interchangable? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/2 "2010-09-14T23:30:24Z")
“University of XX” is generally the official name. “XX University” could be the official name (Harvard University), or it could be informal (Colorado University). ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/3 "2010-09-14T23:55:02Z")
The names are generally not interchangeable, but it is a case-by-case thing. The University of Colorado never uses “Colorado University” to refer to itself. It _does_ use the mark “CU”, but that is a logo and not an abbreviation. (Using UC would also leave ambiguity with the much larger UC (California) system.) See [the CU style guide here](http://www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/names.html). I thing of “CU” as something like the term “Caltech”, which does not imply that you can remove the word “Institute” from the name “California Institute of Technology”. It does appear that the University of Warwick is a bit indecisive in its labeling, but do you have any other examples? I find most places to be pretty much one way or the other. (You will never see “University of Princeton” and you will never see “Mississippi University”.) ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/4 "2010-09-15T00:09:38Z")
[California University](http://www.cup.edu) is much different from [The University of California](http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/5 "2010-09-15T00:21:57Z")
There is no “Illinois University,” but all of the following exist and are separate institutions (some with multiple branches/locations): University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University. (They are abbreviated/initialized in the obvious ways.) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/6 "2010-09-15T00:29:56Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > [California University](http://www.cup.edu) is much different from [The University of California](http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/). Wow, I knew there was a California, PA, and a that there was a branch of the state university there, but I didn’t know it was just called “California University”. UC and CSU, by themselves, can be a little confusing to outsiders. Generally UC is considered “better” than CSU, in that it’s usually harder to get in, and are considered more academic, as it were, in that they are more geared to research. On the other hand, CSU has numerous good programs and individually respected campuses of its own. Each of the CSU campuses seems to have its own individual look and feel; by contrast, when you visit different UC campuses, you feel they are part of the same entity, (or hydra-heads of the same liberal radical monster, as the conservatives would have it). To add to the confusion, in the early days it wasn’t uncommon to refer to "U of \ as simply “\”. So if you were attending the Berkeley campus in 1910, you might well have said simply that you were a student at California, and Michigan was probably going to beat your team again this year, because their coach, Fielding Yost, wrote the book on football, [literally](http://chestofbooks.com/sports/football/Player-Spectator/). But this, at any rate, has led to UC Berkeley people’s tendency to refer to their school as “Cal”, which gets them greatly disliked by those of us who’ve attended UC’s other fine campuses. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/7 "2010-09-15T00:55:24Z")
I don’t know about many that are interchangeable. I had a friend that went to the University of Denver which is abbreviated DU. I couldn’t tell you why they do that but I don’t know of him ever referring to it as Denver University. I can only imagine that they wanted to avoid confusion with another UD. Dayton? Delaware? I have a friend from Oregon and I still wince when she refers to Oregon State as OSU though. So it would be nice if Oregon would change the abbreviation. As a side note, in addition to California University, Pennsylvania has Indiana University which is generally called IUP. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/8 "2010-09-15T00:57:58Z")
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) schools are all \ University. Technically, the full name is California University of Pennsylvania, but most people here just call it Cal. There is also an Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but people call that one IUP to distinguish it from that other university in the state of Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/9 "2010-09-15T01:03:49Z")
The University of Georgia and Georgia University are also different institutions in that the former is the oldest state chartered university in the US and the latter does not appear to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/10 "2010-09-15T01:14:48Z")
University of Miami (Fla.) and Miami University (Ohio) University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University and then there’s Boston College and Boston University ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/11 "2010-09-15T01:15:51Z")
> [@Neptunian\_Slug](#): > > …I have a friend from Oregon and I still wince when she refers to Oregon State as OSU though. So it would be nice if Oregon would change the abbreviation… Both are state-sponsored schools\*, but when talking institutions of higher learning, “Oregon” by itself refers to the University of Oregon, in Eugene. What’s wrong with “OSU” anyway? \*: Oregon and Oregon State, along with five other state schools, are run by the Oregon University System, adding to naming confusion. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/12 "2010-09-15T02:26:39Z")
> [@Neptunian\_Slug](#): > > I have a friend from Oregon and I still wince when she refers to Oregon State as OSU though. So it would be nice if Oregon would change the abbreviation. Why do you wince? Is it because there are so many other OSU’s (Ohio State University=OSU, Oklahoma State University=OSU, etc.) and you think that is confusing? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/13 "2010-09-15T02:46:30Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > > [@Neptunian\_Slug](#): > > > > I have a friend from Oregon and I still wince when she refers to Oregon State as OSU though. So it would be nice if Oregon would change the abbreviation. > > Why do you wince? Is it because there are so many other OSU’s (Ohio State University=OSU, Oklahoma State University=OSU, etc.) and you think that is confusing? No confusion about it. There is only one OSU. The Ohio State University. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/14 "2010-09-15T03:10:30Z")
I was in my twenties before I realized that they are officially called the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/15 "2010-09-15T03:56:56Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The University of Georgia and Georgia University are also different institutions in that the former is the oldest state chartered university in the US and the latter does not appear to exist. It is, however, NOT the oldest state university in the country. That honor belongs to the University of North Carolina. Re the OP: Most states don’t have a “STATE” university. They have a “STATE NAME” State and a University of “STATE”. So, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. Florida State University and University of Florida. Mississipi State and U of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Arizona State and U of Arizona. Oklahoma State and U of Oklahoma, etc, etc. Bonus Trivia Challenge: Only one state in the country does not have the state name in the name of its “State University”. Which one? (I’ve won many a drink off this one) ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/16 "2010-09-15T04:07:20Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > > [@Gagundathar](#): > > > > The University of Georgia and Georgia University are also different institutions in that the former is the oldest state chartered university in the US and the latter does not appear to exist. > > It is, however, NOT the oldest state university in the country. That honor belongs to the University of North Carolina. > > Re the OP: Most states don’t have a “STATE” university. They have a “STATE NAME” State and a University of “STATE”. So, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. Florida State University and University of Florida. Mississipi State and U of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Arizona State and U of Arizona. Oklahoma State and U of Oklahoma, etc, etc. > > Bonus Trivia Challenge: Only one state in the country does not have the state name in the name of its “State University”. Which one? (I’ve won many a drink off this one) New Jersey ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/17 "2010-09-15T04:19:19Z")
Also, there’s what my Sports Geography prof called the “Big Eight Conundrum” where the schools in the old Big Eight abbreviated differently than they were named. OU != University of Oklahoma KU != University of Kansas CU != University of Colorado NU != University of Nebraska MU != University of Missouri also, in the area, but different conference: TU != University of Tulsa ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/18 "2010-09-15T04:20:40Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The University of Georgia and Georgia University are also different institutions in that the former is the oldest state chartered university in the US and the latter does not appear to exist. We do have a [Georgia State University](http://www.gsu.edu/). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/19 "2010-09-15T04:44:14Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > …Re the OP: Most states don’t have a “STATE” university. They have a “STATE NAME” State and a University of “STATE”. So, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. Here in Pennsylvania [Pennsylvania State University](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University) is the public land-grand university (with campuses all over the state) and the [University of Pennysylvania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPenn) is a private Ivy League school chartered during colonial times. New York has both a [State University of New York](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_University_of_New_York) and a [University of the State of New York](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_State_of_New_York) (which is not an actual university), but no University of New York. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786/20 "2010-09-15T04:55:12Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > But this, at any rate, has led to UC Berkeley people’s tendency to refer to their school as “Cal”, which gets them greatly disliked by those of us who’ve attended UC’s other fine campuses. :dubious: Really? I went to one of the other campuses of the UC and I don’t give a shit. They were there first, they get to be Cal. Lots of states have this going on, where the oldest campus gets to be called by the name of the state. The University of Nevada is the campus in Reno. There’s also the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or UNLV. I’m a grad student at the University of Michigan. That means I’m in Ann Arbor. The other campuses of the University of Michigan are known as UM Flint and UM Dearborn. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-____-and-____-university/553786.md?page=2)