https://hbu.edu/hc/

Effective today.

"After several years of research and the Board of Trustees' prayerful review, the University desires to adopt a name that welcomes the many students enrolled who come from many different denominations of the Christian faith as well as those who claim no faith.

As of September 21, 2022, Houston Baptist University will become Houston Christian University.

Houston Christian University more accurately epitomizes our student body and reflects the faculty, staff, alumni, and community we serve."

(09-21-2022 04:26 PM)johnintx Wrote:  https://hbu.edu/hc/

Effective today.

"After several years of research and the Board of Trustees' prayerful review, the University desires to adopt a name that welcomes the many students enrolled who come from many different denominations of the Christian faith as well as those who claim no faith.

As of September 21, 2022, Houston Baptist University will become Houston Christian University.

Houston Christian University more accurately epitomizes our student body and reflects the faculty, staff, alumni, and community we serve."

Sad, but also not surprising as "Baptist" currently has a bad reputation based on a lot of different factors. I was a "Christian" (denominational name, like TCU's affiliation), and recently joined an SBC church, and a lot is going on, very interesting.

(09-21-2022 04:26 PM)johnintx Wrote:  Houston Baptist changing name to HCU - Houston Christian University

Makes sense for reasons mentioned in the release.

If USF in Tampa can discard or at least scale way back its usage of the "University of South Florida" we'll be making real progress

That makes them at least the 2nd D1 school to change their name from Baptist.

Charleston Southern was Baptist College in the early Big South days.

(09-21-2022 04:32 PM)Soobahk40050 Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 04:26 PM)johnintx Wrote:  https://hbu.edu/hc/

Effective today.

"After several years of research and the Board of Trustees' prayerful review, the University desires to adopt a name that welcomes the many students enrolled who come from many different denominations of the Christian faith as well as those who claim no faith.

As of September 21, 2022, Houston Baptist University will become Houston Christian University.

Houston Christian University more accurately epitomizes our student body and reflects the faculty, staff, alumni, and community we serve."

Sad, but also not surprising as "Baptist" currently has a bad reputation based on a lot of different factors. I was a "Christian" (denominational name, like TCU's affiliation), and recently joined an SBC church, and a lot is going on, very interesting.

Why sad? Did you even know HBU was D1?

Houston Baptist Christian University.

Do they not want to be associated with the Baptist Church because of the recent sexual abuse scandals?

(09-21-2022 04:32 PM)Soobahk40050 Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 04:26 PM)johnintx Wrote:  https://hbu.edu/hc/

Effective today.

"After several years of research and the Board of Trustees' prayerful review, the University desires to adopt a name that welcomes the many students enrolled who come from many different denominations of the Christian faith as well as those who claim no faith.

As of September 21, 2022, Houston Baptist University will become Houston Christian University.

Houston Christian University more accurately epitomizes our student body and reflects the faculty, staff, alumni, and community we serve."

Sad, but also not surprising as "Baptist" currently has a bad reputation based on a lot of different factors. I was a "Christian" (denominational name, like TCU's affiliation), and recently joined an SBC church, and a lot is going on, very interesting.

I'll steer as far away from SBC controversy as I can in this forum, but I totally get that.

As mentioned in the new HCU FAQs, they've been considering a name change for 16 years. Nothing else has changed. It's the same school with the same doctrinal statement and the same commitments. What Baptist affiliations it has still remain.

Dr. Robert Sloan is still the president of HCU. He is the former president of Baylor, who was forced to resign partly for being too conservative. He still has big dreams for HCU. HCU is not as openly conservative as Liberty (for instance, not known for Republican politics), but is nonetheless a mainstream evangelical institution.

Athletically, they're going to refer to themselves as HCU first, and Houston Christian second. From the website:

"Our beloved Husky mascot will continue to champion our 17 Division I sports! And the colors of the University—orange and blue—will remain the same.

We will immediately begin to refer to ourselves as "HCU" on first reference and then "Houston Christian" on second reference.

Our athletic website address will soon transition to HCUHuskies.com. The current site, HBUHuskies.com, will be redirected to the new domain.

Once the revised logo is completed within months, new athletic gear adorned with "HCU" and "Houston Christian" will be introduced and "HBU" apparel as well as updated signage in the various sporting venues across campus will be replaced.

However, for the duration of the 2022-2023 academic year, we will likely still be seen, in some instances, in "HBU" uniforms, or Huskies uniforms.

Further, all established individual athlete and team records will continue forward under the new university name."

(09-21-2022 04:44 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  That makes them at least the 2nd D1 school to change their name from Baptist.

Charleston Southern was Baptist College in the early Big South days.

Yep. It was originally Baptist College at Charleston, a name intended as a placeholder. It took them 25 years to find a permanent name. They became Charleston Southern University in 1990.

Following the TCU blueprint.

(09-21-2022 04:49 PM)Poster Wrote:  Do they not want to be associated with the Baptist Church because of the recent sexual abuse scandals?

Might also be a play to somewhat broaden the potential student base if they still want to keep an upfront religious association. Evangelical, Mainline, and Historically Black Protestant types of Baptists combine to form about 20% of Texas's total population when breaking down by religious association according to Pew Research.

By contrast, Christianity as a whole makes up about 77% of the religious composition of Texas in that same source, with Catholics being the largest single denomination (23% of the state as whole). Even if we assumed that Texans of other religions (4% of the state), and people who are religiously unaffiliated (18% of Texas - including Atheist, Agnostic, and "Nothing In Particular") weren't interested in attending HBU/HCU on the religiously-colored name alone, that's still a much bigger potential pool to draw from then by just "Baptist" - which is worth considering in a time when college enrollments are declining across the board, and also that the university only had an undergraduate enrollment of 2780 as of Fall 2021.

(09-21-2022 04:46 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  Houston Baptist Christian University.

HBCU. Now that would cause some confusion lol.

(09-21-2022 05:19 PM)Cruhawk Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 04:49 PM)Poster Wrote:  Do they not want to be associated with the Baptist Church because of the recent sexual abuse scandals?

Might also be a play to somewhat broaden the potential student base if they still want to keep an upfront religious association. Evangelical, Mainline, and Historically Black Protestant types of Baptists combine to form about 20% of Texas's total population when breaking down by religious association according to Pew Research.

By contrast, Christianity as a whole makes up about 77% of the religious composition of Texas in that same source, with Catholics being the largest single denomination (23% of the state as whole). Even if we assumed that Texans of other religions (4% of the state), and people who are religiously unaffiliated (18% of Texas - including Atheist, Agnostic, and "Nothing In Particular") weren't interested in attending HBU/HCU on the religiously-colored name alone, that's still a much bigger potential pool to draw from then by just "Baptist" - which is worth considering in a time when college enrollments are declining across the board, and also that the university only had an undergraduate enrollment of 2780 as of Fall 2021.

From what I understand, only about 10% of their student body comes from a Baptist background. Their board and administration are Baptists, but their student body is not. These stats line up with what HCU is attempting to do: align with the present and plan for the future.

Anecdotally: We raised our three children in a Houston suburb. We're part of a well-known Houston megachurch with connections to HBU/HCU. Out of all of our kids' friends and acquaintances, I can only think of one that went to what is now HCU. Our kids and their friends wanted to leave Houston. That includes those who went to Christian and specifically Baptist schools. Those who stayed local ended up at U of H. The school formerly known as HBU wasn't on the radar.

(09-21-2022 05:33 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 05:19 PM)Cruhawk Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 04:49 PM)Poster Wrote:  Do they not want to be associated with the Baptist Church because of the recent sexual abuse scandals?

Might also be a play to somewhat broaden the potential student base if they still want to keep an upfront religious association. Evangelical, Mainline, and Historically Black Protestant types of Baptists combine to form about 20% of Texas's total population when breaking down by religious association according to Pew Research.

By contrast, Christianity as a whole makes up about 77% of the religious composition of Texas in that same source, with Catholics being the largest single denomination (23% of the state as whole). Even if we assumed that Texans of other religions (4% of the state), and people who are religiously unaffiliated (18% of Texas - including Atheist, Agnostic, and "Nothing In Particular") weren't interested in attending HBU/HCU on the religiously-colored name alone, that's still a much bigger potential pool to draw from then by just "Baptist" - which is worth considering in a time when college enrollments are declining across the board, and also that the university only had an undergraduate enrollment of 2780 as of Fall 2021.

From what I understand, only about 10% of their student body comes from a Baptist background. Their board and administration are Baptists, but their student body is not. These stats line up with what HCU is attempting to do: align with the present and plan for the future.

Anecdotally: We raised our three children in a Houston suburb. We're part of a well-known Houston megachurch with connections to HBU/HCU. Out of all of our kids' friends and acquaintances, I can only think of one that went to what is now HCU. Our kids and their friends wanted to leave Houston. That includes those who went to Christian and specifically Baptist schools. Those who stayed local ended up at U of H. The school formerly known as HBU wasn't on the radar.

Pretty similar to most private colleges connected to a denomination. Most students aren’t from that denomination and most students aren’t local.

Seems a bit silly.

How about Houston Biblical University? Then no need to change the abbreviation.

(09-21-2022 05:15 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  Following the TCU blueprint.

No. TCU was founded by the Disciples of Christ. That's why they are Texas "Christian,"
not because they are separating themselves from their denomination.

(09-21-2022 05:33 PM)johnintx Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 05:19 PM)Cruhawk Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 04:49 PM)Poster Wrote:  Do they not want to be associated with the Baptist Church because of the recent sexual abuse scandals?

Might also be a play to somewhat broaden the potential student base if they still want to keep an upfront religious association. Evangelical, Mainline, and Historically Black Protestant types of Baptists combine to form about 20% of Texas's total population when breaking down by religious association according to Pew Research.

By contrast, Christianity as a whole makes up about 77% of the religious composition of Texas in that same source, with Catholics being the largest single denomination (23% of the state as whole). Even if we assumed that Texans of other religions (4% of the state), and people who are religiously unaffiliated (18% of Texas - including Atheist, Agnostic, and "Nothing In Particular") weren't interested in attending HBU/HCU on the religiously-colored name alone, that's still a much bigger potential pool to draw from then by just "Baptist" - which is worth considering in a time when college enrollments are declining across the board, and also that the university only had an undergraduate enrollment of 2780 as of Fall 2021.

From what I understand, only about 10% of their student body comes from a Baptist background. Their board and administration are Baptists, but their student body is not. These stats line up with what HCU is attempting to do: align with the present and plan for the future.

Anecdotally: We raised our three children in a Houston suburb. We're part of a well-known Houston megachurch with connections to HBU/HCU. Out of all of our kids' friends and acquaintances, I can only think of one that went to what is now HCU. Our kids and their friends wanted to leave Houston. That includes those who went to Christian and specifically Baptist schools. Those who stayed local ended up at U of H. The school formerly known as HBU wasn't on the radar.

Houston Baptist is pretty well known around Houston as HBU. They are going to have to spend some money to avoid people thinking they are just some minor new Christian university.

Should have gone with Christian Values School

Everybody's a comedian.