Recently, the Adair County Community Voice reported on a number of changes that Lindsey Wilson College is undergoing as it continues to expand. There are new buildings being built and new programs being offered, but undoubtably, the biggest change of all is a potential name change.
For years, Lindsey Wilson has been accredited as a university; it offers upper-level courses, with master’s programs and a doctoral program. Yet, the name has yet to be changed to reflect its true status.
Part of the reason the name has remained Lindsey Wilson College is because it is the moniker that the community knows the campus as. “Lindsey Wilson University” may not be a large change, but if the name change is approved, it will date plenty of Lindsey Wilson College t-shirts.
The college has begun de-emphasizing the “college” part of their name. Student Leif Wilson, displayed a shirt they had only just bought that left off “college” or “university” entirely, saying Blue Raiders instead, demonstrating a change that has slowly seeped into the merchandise.
Before pulling the freshly-bought shirt out of the bag, Wilson stated their feelings on the name change are somewhat positive. “Lindsey Wilson College has been a university for so long. I think it’s weird that it hasn’t been changed yet. But I understand why it hasn’t. I’m almost indifferent to it because it doesn’t fully affect me. It’s gonna change what it says on my degree, but it’s still the same institution, it’s still the same people. It’s the Blue Raiders… Most people just say ‘I go to Lindsey.’”
Similarly, Aven Sanders, a senior at Lindsey and President of FSU, said, “As someone who is US-born, we always describe higher education as ‘college,’ but one thing I hadn’t taken into consideration is we have such a massive international student body and internationally, a lot of countries… their degrees seem more legitimate if they’re coming from a ‘university’ rather than a ‘college.’ It’s more so trying to meet the majority of the student body where they are. I used to think it was goofy, but it’s really just a label.”
Where Wilson and Sanders both agreed was that the name did not matter so long as the values and culture of the college did not change. With the “university” label, there come expectations such as the introduction of Greek Life and prioritizing quantity of students over maintaining the small class sizes and individual relationships forged with the students now.
Lindsey Wilson President William Lucky, for his part, says that he does want to push for the name change to go into effect unless there is a “strong consensus” in favor of it among students and faculty.
President Luckey provided the following anecdote to illuminate his feelings on the change.“I have been strongly opposed to (the name change) for 26 years… I went to an all-male college,” he explained. Later, when talks of integrating male and female students to the school arose, he was opposed to it—the college had been all-male when he went, and he wanted it to remain that way. “Then I had three daughters.”
“We are a level five institution. We have been evaluated as a university by accreditors… We are actually a very diversified institution,” he explained. “(College or university), the act of caring, we’ll continue to impact students the same way.”
Another faculty member echoed President Luckey’s Assistant Professor of Theatre at Lindsey Wilson, Jeremy Cloyd, has the unique perspective of having both attended the college and teaching at it. He explained his views on the possible name change as, “I think (the name change is) an exciting conversation that’s being had! I’ve been a student, a staff member, and now a faculty member, and in all that time I have watched as Lindsey Wilson has grown in so many ways it’s hard to describe. The one thing that’s never changed, however, is our commitment to helping students and making their lives better through their education and experience at Lindsey. Changing our name to reflect the institution that we are and have been for many years can only help us to grow even more and reach even more students. Whether a college or a university, the reality is that this place is a home for so many people.”
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
