Especially that direction university down there in Los Angeles. UCLA and Cal (Berkeley) should just drop it from their schedules…
Just to make things a little more confusing, some change their name every once in a while. For instance, my wife and I graduated from the State University of Iowa while my daughter who attended the same institution in the same place 30 years later graduated from the University of Iowa.
By the same token the operation at Cedar Falls was Iowa State Teachers College in the good old days is now the University of Northern Iowa.
Iowa State University at Ames has always been Iowa State but that doesn’t stop we effete snobs from calling it Silo Tech.
Nothing, however, is quite as silly as the transformation of Ohio State University into THE Ohio State University.
Eh- I’d say the University of Maryland System’s change to the University System of Maryland in 1997 is up there with it. I remember a huge deal was made of this, and I’d really rather not know how much of my tuition money went toward making this change.
The silly part is paying attention to this kind of P.R. claptrap. I notice that there are Wikipedia editors who meticulously insert all the Thes, even insisting on capitalizing it.
So what would account for Toledo University in Toledo, Ohio becoming University of Toledo? (I can’t remember what year that happened. 70’s maybe)
It is still fairly common among old people in Colorado to think of the schools in only their original purposes. The acedemic school(CU), the aggie college(CSU formerly Colo. A&M), the teacher’s college(UNC, formerly Colo, Teacher’s college), and the mining/engineering school Colo. sch. of Mines. Even though they all have rounded curiculums these days, the perception still exists.
According to this news article, the name change happened in 1947, but it doesn’t say why.
But name changes are fairly common for American universities. According to this Web site, U.T. has had all these names: Toledo University of Arts and Trades, Toledo Manual Training School, Toledo University Polytechnic School, Toledo University, and the University of the City of Toledo.
The history of the names of the institution are as follows:
Toledo University of Arts and Trades 1872 - 1878
Toledo Manual Training School 1884 (briefly)
Toledo University 1884 - 1921 (This included, inter alia, the Manual Training School, the Medical College, the Education School) It was at this point (1884) that the City of Toledo obtained control of the institution.
University of the City of Toledo 1921 - 1941 (1947?)
University of Toledo 1941 - Present
The university became part of the state system in 1967, along with University of Cincinnati and the University of Akron. This took it from the control of the city of Toledo, which was having trouble getting levies for funding passed by the voters.
Despite the fact that the institution has been UT for over 60 years, there are still residents around here who insist upon calling it TU. Most of them wouldn’t even remember the days when TU was the appropriate designation.
Trivia fact: The schools athletic teams have been nicknamed “The Rockets” since 1923.
ETA: between 1878 and 1884, the institution did not exist, except on paper.
Wait, you forgot to mention the school’s informal name, Bancroft High. 
As for the radio station, call letters can be changed upon request, if those letters aren’t already in use. However, KUNT isn’t currently assigned, which leads me to believe that a) KNTU doesn’t want to change it, or b) that the FCC won’t issue KUNT for obvious reasons. In any case, I don’t know that KNTU ever considered changing.
Robin
:smack:
I believe you have been whooshed.
-FrL-
I don’t think so. It is a legitimate question, and I took it that way.
Robin
The prior poster, who mentioned the call letters, was mentioning them specifically because, if they had changed them, they would have spelled out KUNT. Thus, it was assumed the reader would understand why this would not be allowed.
Not so much a whoosh, as not appreciating the subtle humor involved.
And the there’s the Final Four, er Two, University of North Carolina (at Chapel Hill)(et alia) and North Carolina State University, the former a liberal arts college and the latter was at first the (land grant) ag school (“cow college”)and is now that plus the engineering/technical school.
That’s what I get for posting after my bedtime. :smack:
Robin
More applicable than you might think.
Here in Missouri we have the University of Missouri system (“one university, four campuses”) and the old compass point schools.
Except that Southwest Missouri State University successfully lobbied the legislature to change its name to Missouri State University. Which annoyed the other compass point schools, but drove the U of M crazy.
That action was followed by the University of Missouri-Rolla (orginally the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy) to change its name to Missouri University of Science and Technology. However, MUST is still officially one of the four U of M campuses (which now makes the motto "one university, four campuses, several names.)
At this point the UM campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis are threatening to change their names, as well.
That’s interesting. However, my comment was a joke on the fact that much of Louisiana law is based on the Code Napoleon, not English Common Law, so when I was there at least some things were still kind of strange. 
According to Wikipedia, the state legislature mandated that there could not be a sole “University of Louisiana,” so it went through only after two universities changed their name to “University of Louisiana” simultaneously, both using geographical designations (Lafayette and Monroe).
Personally speaking, I like that idea. I get mildly annoyed by the “University of X at Y” dealio. The geographical qualifiers are tiresome. Give each university a unique name, dammit!