The Name Game

As originally reported by the Almanac back in May, officials at Penn State McKeesport Campus have proposed changing its name to "Penn State Allegheny." A Daily News story by David Whipkey (subscribers only) has more details.

The Penn State board of trustees will consider the name change at a meeting Sept. 15. The advisory board to the local campus has endorsed the move.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that Penn State McKeesport Chancellor Curtiss Porter recently did me an extraordinary kindness, and while I can't talk about what he did yet, I will, if and when the time is right.

Also, as an employee of another university, I have an obvious conflict of interest in talking what another local college is doing.

So: Suffice it to say that my opinions are not those of anyone but me.

Anyway, I'm walking a delicate line here, and if I sound like I'm pulling my punches --- well, I am.

Instead of shooting off my own mouth, I'll let a strongly worded editorial from Wednesday's News do most of the talking. It's not online, but I think it's worth quoting at length, because I think it probably captures the feelings of a lot of Penn State alumni in the McKeesport area:

Porter ... denied that a change is prompted by all the weird news generated recently in this area. We are skeptical about that.

However, if he and his advisors want to slap the faces of alumni who have supported PSM for decades, they will succeed.

He also noted how Carnegie Tech became Carnegie Mellon University --- however, that came as the result of a merger of Carnegie and Mellon institutes. So should we start asking questions about a merger with Community College of "Allegheny" County?

The News is urging readers to contact PSU trustees, including state Supreme Court Justice Cynthia Baldwin of White Oak and Eat'n Park CEO James S. Broadhurst, along with Penn State President Graham Spanier.

Dr. Porter told the News that PSM wants to "broaden the scope of the campus from the Mon Valley to all of Southwestern Pennsylvania," and that a name change will help.

Let me state up front that besides my most recent dealings with Dr. Porter, I've met him in the past, and I've heard a lot about him. I believe that his heart is in the right place, and that he's not making this decision based on some idle whim --- he's also a Mon Valley native (Braddock, if I recall correctly), so he's sensitive to the issue of community pride.

If this change were part of a change at all Penn State campuses --- let's say Penn State New Kensington was going to become "Penn State Westmoreland," and Penn State Altoona was going to become "Penn State Blair" --- then I think McKeesporters would grumble and move on.

This change, however, only seems to be targeting Our Fair City, and I suspect that's why it's leaving a bad taste in the mouths of McKeesporters. Their offense is understandable.

While I'm not knocking the cities of Dubois, New Kensington or Altoona, I have a hard time believing that those names care more "prestige" than "McKeesport" --- which is, after all, the home of an Olympic gold medalist (Swin Cash), a Pulitzer Prize winner (Marc Connelly), an internationally-known photographer (Duane Michals) and one of the most influential rock'n roll record producers of the 20th century (Art Rupe).

I also don't understand how this is going to help recruit students to the local campus. As previously stated in the Almanac, once students visit "Penn State Allegheny," they're going to notice it's in McKeesport. (OK, some of it is in White Oak, but who's counting?)

And does "Allegheny" really mean anything more to a high school student from Scranton or Philadelphia than "McKeesport" does? I doubt they could find "Allegheny County" on a map. Why not just call it "Penn State Greater Pittsburgh" and be done with it?

If Penn State McKeesport is at some recruiting disadvantage --- perhaps there's not enough on- and off-campus activities for prospective students, for instance --- then I would hope that the university and the community could work together to resolve that.

Penn State McKeesport is an enormous asset to the entire community, but I believe that McKeesport and the people of the McKeesport area have been a tremendous asset to Penn State --- and can continue to be in the future.

Driving a wedge between the university and the City of McKeesport is not going to help make that happen.