UMass Alumni Contest the 'Amherst' Name

A debate is raging at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about how necessary the "Amherst" part of its name really is, the Boston Globe reports. The Amherst campus is the system's flagship university, and some alumni are worried that the regional designation gives the 25,000-student research institution the air of a commuter or provincial school. "The Amherst label diminishes its flagship status by lumping them in with all the others," says one graduate.

The University of Missouri shed its "Columbia" appendage last year, and critics of the current name point to schools such as the University of Michigan, Ohio State University , and Penn State , which are easily identified as flagship schools among a more broad system. Supporters of "Amherst," however, cite the University of Tennessee Knoxville , the University of Wisconsin Madison, UC Berkeley, and the University of Texas-Austin as schools that have done just fine with a regional designation.