Hehir on Vic name change

Liam Hehir writes:

My alma mater, Victoria University of Wellington, says it is also grappling with name baggage. It is losing money hand over fist, the claim goes, because potential enrollees are confused about the “Victoria” bit. Does it refer to the Australian state? The city in Canada? The waterfall in Zimbabwe?

To fix this, the university has decided, in principle, upon a “simplification” of its name. “Victoria” is to be expunged, leaving the name to be “the University of Wellington”. Bloodless, but more lucrative, the thinking goes. …

The decision has provoked a backlash on the part of alumni, most of whom were totally unaware of the pending decision. In fairness to the university, it had sought feedback through its e-newsletter and on forums such as LinkedIn.

My wife, also an unimpressed Victoria grad, was not happy with this form of engagement. It reminded her of that scene from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where the notification for the demolition of the hero’s house had been placed “on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘beware of the Leopard'”.

Even worse the Vic VC is saying the low level of submissions means there is little opposition, rather than they ran a flawed consultation process.