(06-15-2017 09:46 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote:  

(06-15-2017 03:20 AM)BRtransplant Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 10:21 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:13 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:00 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Why did they change from NLU again?

I'm not sure but I think they took the UL before ULL tried to. When other LA schools complained they went with the ULM instead of directional Monroe.

I think but not sure that's the way it went.

USL (University of Southwest Louisiana) wanted a name change to just University Louisiana but the state wouldn't allow it by citing a part of the Louisiana Higher Education Charter that reads no University can change their official name to represent the whole state of Louisiana. Also it was interpreted that if a school wanted a name change there had to be at least two institutions change their name to represent the system.

I was living right outside of Lafayette when all this started to really heat up in 1996-97. If I remember correctly they courted McNeese State, Southeast Louisiana and Nicholls State to change their name before NLU agreed. Both NLU and USL name change took place in 1999. If they couldn't convince a school to change their name also they would still be the USL Ragin' Cajun's.

NLU agreed to become ULM only after USL agreed to support ULM's getting into the Sun Belt Conference.

Remember that in 1984, USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) became the University of Louisiana with unanimous support from the System Board and all universities within that system, including LA Tech. UL, at that time, had a graduating class with that University of Louisiana name. It achieved that name the same way Louisiana Polytechnic Institute became Louisiana Tech and LSU New Orleans became UNO. However, LSU raised the claim that only the state legislature could change the name of a university, even though that was not a precedent and it was not even under the LSU System. It went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and in a split vote lead by an LSU judge ruled in its favor. During that multi-year legal battle, an injunction was issued prohibiting use of the UL name, so the university continued as USL. So, USL went back to the legislature for name approval and the only thing it was able to get was the University of Louisiana name with a city tag, but only if another university in the state also changed its name similarly. Northeast Louisiana University (NLU) agreed to change to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in exchange for USL's endorsing it for membership in the Sun Belt Conference. That was in 1999.

The university uses its official name on all university academic matters. The law only states that the city tag is to be used when "University of" or "UL" are used. There is no mention of using ONLY Louisiana. There is nothing prohibiting its use of a nickname or an abbreviation of that name, Louisiana, without "University" attached to it. Use of "Louisiana" is not prohibited by the law and is approved by the UL System. And, use of its official name academically is required of the university academically, not of anyone outside of the university.

ULM tried using Louisiana as its name in the early 2000's, but it did not work, so any challenge by them is disingenuous. They decided to brand themselves as ULM, although they could have used Monroe, like other universities have done in shortening their branded name to just the city, e.g. Little Rock (Arkansas- Little Rock), Milwaukee (Wisconsin - Milwaukee), Charlotte ( North Carolina - Charlotte). There is a Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, so use of Lafayette is not doable and is problematic for both schools.

The Sun Belt Conference asked all members to use the name they want to be marketed by. We chose Louisiana and they chose ULM. The ULM president no longer protests our use of Louisiana, although some of their alumni do. LSU has indicated they no longer care what we call ourselves.

We are doing what other schools that do not use their official name for athletic reference have done, e.g. Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), Fresno State (California State University - Fresno), LSU (Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College), McNeese (McNeese State University). A better example is Nevada Reno and Nevada Las Vegas. One goes by Nevada and the other UNLV, similar to Louisiana and ULM. So do Cal and UCLA. Many of the universities around the country do not use their official name for athletics but do so academically, e.g. Wisconsin (Wisconsin - Madison), Nebraska (Nebraska - Lincoln), Texas (Texas at Austin), California (Cal Berkeley).

The Louisiana brand is now official. The Sun Belt Conference has a directive on what to call each of its members and ours is Louisiana. Publications and networks are picking up on that and ESPN has finally indicated that it will and has now started to refer to us as Louisiana.

This is the official university statement regarding proper name usage:

Proper Use of the University's Name

University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been the formal and official name of the University since 1999. Please use it in first reference to the University in text. UL Lafayette may be used as an abbreviation to refer to the academic institution when clarification is necessary.

Name: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Academic Abbreviation: UL Lafayette
Athletics Nickname: Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Athletics Shortened Names: Louisiana, Ragin' Cajuns, and Cajuns
Athletics Abbreviation: LA (for score/stats listings only)

Some people talk about use of Louisiana as being illegal and state they will never call us Louisiana. It is time to end this name issue.
Use of Louisiana athletically has no impact on any other university inside or outside of Louisiana. Any objection to its use is for petty reasons, as it is legal and it is approved by the UL System and by the Sun Belt Conference. If schools in Texas can coexist like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State and UTEP, surely schools like Louisiana State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and ULM can coexist as well.

Was disappointed when I came to Lafayette when we were in the Belt, and you guys had "MTSU" up on the scoreboard, while we complied with your wishes of "UL" when you played in Murfreesboro.

We had similarly asked the conference for just "MT" or "Middle Tennessee"