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Tri-State University announced on a May afternoon last year that it would cease to exist in its present state. The news came during a news conference as cheerful as the day outside.
The swift reaction off-campus? Not so positive, in many cases.
On Friday, Tri-State University will take the name of its largest individual donors – Ralph and Sheri Trine – and become Trine University.
Some alumni and friends of the university wrote letters to area newspapers opposing the change, and the announcement elicited strong reactions on Internet message boards.
An oft-repeated threat by alumni to stop donating to their alma mater so far hasn’t panned out; university officials say they’ve been getting more donations, from more individuals, in recent months.
An online petition circulated with a photo of a rock on the campus painted as a tombstone: “Here Lies TSU: 1884-2009.”
Name changes to universities should be made before the universities build their reputations, the petition said. “Tri-State University already has this strong reputation and removing the name could damage said reputation for years to come.”
More than 1,500 people added their names to the online list.
But University President Earl Brooks II said last week no verified petition was ever given to his office.
While protesters garnered media attention, Brooks said they were not representative of most of the feedback the university received and were often driven by misunderstanding.
Some objected to the cost of a name change. The main cost will be in updating signs; other items like letterhead, catalogs and athletic uniforms are bought on a rotating basis, so they’re not a new cost, Brooks said.
The university has made an effort to respond to every letter, phone call or e-mail to explain the rationale behind the name change.
“It’s often a small group of folks that make a lot of noise,” Brooks said. “We’re very sensitive to the fact that some people may have difficulty with the change, but we also want to make sure that they have their facts accurate.”
The main fact was that many considered “Tri-State University” a misnomer, and discussions about changing the name began long before Brooks came to the college in 2000, said Ralph Trine, an alumnus who has served on the board of trustees for 16 years.
Founded as Tri-State Normal College in 1884, the name referred to Angola’s location near the Michigan and Ohio borders. It became Tri-State College in 1906 and Tri-State University in 1975.
The large number of geographical regions called “tri-state” was a problem, but the biggest issue was the implication that “Tri-State” was a state school.
Sheri Trine recalled a story a longtime professor told her: When the school dropped “college” to become “university” more than three decades ago, the professor said, “I told them they were changing the wrong end of the name.”
An administrator from the University of Notre Dame recently asked Brooks at a conference how Tri-State got Indiana officials to agree to drop “State” from the name, Sheri Trine said.
That kind of confusion was common enough that it prompted the university to hire an educational marketing firm three years ago that made a strong push to change the name.
An ad hoc committee studied the issue and voted unanimously to eliminate “Tri-State,” without knowing what the new name would be. The university’s Alumni Board of Governors and Board of Trustees voted overwhelmingly to change the name, also without knowing what the name would be.
Last year, the board of trustees announced its intent to incorporate “Trine” in the new name in recognition of the family’s support, which remains undisclosed.
In Angola last week, masonry workers smoothed mortar and placed bricks for the new “Trine University” sign at the campus’s entrance off U.S. 20.
Behind them, other workers began dismantling a towering, blue-and-white Tri-State University sign.
Some markers aren’t so easily erased. To the north, a water tower declares Angola home of the “TSU Thunder.” “Thunder” will be kept as Trine University’s athletic name, although the university said it is considering a new mascot to replace Thor, the mythological god of thunder.
Kyle Wilson, a Carroll High School graduate who received a design engineering degree from Tri-State in 2006, wears his Tri-State athletic shirts with pride.
When he wears them now, strangers invariably approach him and ask – somewhat incredulously – whether the university is really changing its name.
He won’t be replacing the Tri-State University gear with Trine garb, he said.
“I went to a school that doesn’t exist anymore,” Wilson said.
At the same time, he is impressed by the physical changes on the campus.
Beyond the name change, Brooks has been an agent of change in the fiscal and physical appearance of the campus. A capital campaign has raised $70 million, with debt cut in half, according to the university’s Department of Brand and Integrated Marketing.
The administration and welcome-center buildings were renovated, apartment-style student housing has been built and more is under construction – only a few of many changes in the past few years. A new football stadium will be the highlight of improvements to athletic facilities, such as a baseball grandstand and press box and a redesigned golf course.
If the name change has affected donations, it’s been to the school’s benefit. In the fiscal year beginning June 2007 – the month after an announcement was made that a new university name would incorporate “Trine” – Tri-State had a record giving year of $14 million, Brooks said. That doesn’t include the Trine’s gift, which will be recorded in the current fiscal year.
The university’s donor base increased from 674 people in 2007 to 911 in 2008, and the alumni phone-athon this year almost doubled its fundraising to $468,000, the president said.
Some alumni are adamant they won’t add their dollars to the pot. Peter J. Walters, president of the winter graduating class of 1973, wants to be clear that he’s grateful to the Trines for all they’ve done.
“I love Tri-State,” he said. “But I’m absolutely disgusted by this.”
Walters works in Muncie, where, he points out, David Letterman has given great sums to Ball State University, which hasn’t become Letterman University. Walters maintains a lake home in Angola, and with four children now through college, he’s at the point of his life where he’s ready to begin giving to causes dear to him.
If he does donate, it won’t be to the university – it’ll be to his fraternity, he said.
“Years of history, you don’t throw it out,” he said. “I was shocked.”
Brooks insists the university is simply creating new traditions, which include renaming the Angola campus the “Trine University Tri-State Campus.”
“Any of our alumni who would have graduated under the Tri-State University umbrella for the last 124 years can’t deny the fact that they received a quality education here that prepared them well for their career,” he said. “The impact of what we’re called today has very little bearing on them. Our mission hasn’t changed, our core values, our philosophy hasn’t changed.”
aturner@jg.net
