Category: default || By jt3y

Boy, this didn't take long:



I snapped this photo on University Drive in Our Fair City at 11 a.m. Saturday. You don't suppose they had the signs already made up and waiting for installation, do you? To quote Bugs Bunny: "Eh ... could be!"

Anyway, in case you missed the news:

Penn State University's campus at McKeesport has a new name.

The western Pennsylvania campus will now be known as Penn State-Greater Allegheny after the board of trustees approved the name change Friday.

The switch "will more readily describe the region served and more accurately reflect the 21st-century mission of the campus," Penn State president Graham Spanier said. (Associated Press via Centre Daily Times)

This just makes me shake my head and groan. The name change was going to offend McKeesporters no matter what --- but at least "Penn State Allegheny" was short and sweet. "Penn State 'Greater' Allegheny" is just clunky. No one refers to Allegheny County or the Pittsburgh metropolitan area as "Greater Allegheny."

Occasional Almanac contributor Officer Jim, a Penn State McKeesport Greater Allegheny alumnus, suggests that this was a compromise intended to keep Allegheny College happy.

Well, again, I ask: If McKeesporters were going to get a burr under their saddles anyway, why not just go all the way to "Penn State Pittsburgh" or "Penn State Greater Pittsburgh" and be done with it? Maybe "Penn State Metro Pittsburgh"? "Penn State Pittsburgh East"?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Penn State campus on O'Neil Boulevard under any name is a great institution, and McKeesport and vicinity should be proud to have it. I just wish this had been handled in a way that didn't cause so many hurt feelings among residents and local officials. This is leaving something of the same bad taste as when McKeesport Hospital was sold to UPMC. When that happened, McKeesport seemed to have been reduced in importance just a little bit.

Still, we adapted to "UPMC McKeesport," and the hospital is better for drawing on UPMC's resources. McKeesport is better, too, for having a stronger medical center here.

In the same way, it's in McKeesport's best interests for Penn State to have a strong and vital campus here. Penn State officials say renaming the campus will help it recruit faculty and students; therefore, I guess it's imperative for us to suck this up and move on in the interest of a stronger Penn State and a stronger McKeesport. As Andrew Carnegie often said: "All is well since all grows better." (Of course, Andy has nothing to beef about --- they kept his name on his university.)

But I hope folks in State College will excuse us if we pout --- for a little while at least. After all of the knocks we've taken over the years, I think we've earned it.