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Photo / William Hall
The University of Southern Maine has postponed steps to change its name, which would also require changes in signs like this one on the Portland campus.
The University of Southern Maine is tabling plans to change its name to the University of Maine at Portland.
Three weeks after University of Maine System trustees approved the rebranding, USM now will postpone it in order to get further input and begin a major construction project on the Portland campus, USM President Glenn Cummings told Mainebiz Monday.
Cummings first floated the proposal for a new name over a year ago as a way to attract more out-of-state students. The idea won endorsement from the the school's alumni association and the student government, in addition to the system trustees. Because USM is a public university, the change also required approval of the state Legislature and was due to be considered by lawmakers in their upcoming session.
But the proposal had also drawn the criticism of some graduates and others.
They included three legislators from a Portland suburb, who publicly condemned the change in a joint Nov. 21 statement: USM grads Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, and Rep. Patrick Corey, R-Windham, as well as Rep. Mark Bryant, D-Windham.
“Wiping out the reference to the entire southern Maine region and replacing it with Portland is short-sighted and frankly insulting to hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who have supported USM over the years," Diamond said in the statement.
The legislation has been withdrawn and USM plans to hold more discussions with stakeholders about the proposal, according to Cummings. That process could begin after the legislative session concludes.
“It makes sense to press pause until we can have more conversations,” he said in an interview. "We don't want to force something that creates divisiveness."
Based on previous market research, the university expected the name change to leverage the national popularity of Portland and lure 80 to 100 additional out-of-state students during the first year alone. In anticipation of their arrival, USM is planning to build a new 60,000-square-foot student center and a 550-bed dormitory, the first on the Portland campus.
Construction will probably begin in the spring and costs are expected to total about $90 million, Cummings told Mainebiz. If USM ultimately decides to pursue a new name and obtains the Legislature's approval, the rebranding might coincide with the building project's completion in 2022.
Tabling the name "gives us a little more of an extended timeline, a longer runway" before the new facilities would have to be ready for the enrollment bump, Cummings said.
USM currently has about 8,200 students and holds classes in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston.
Diamond seemed pleased by the decision to hold off. “I was proud to lead the fight and carry the messages of opposition to the proposed name change — concerns that were expressed not just from my senate district, but from around the state," he said in a USM news release. "I appreciate President Cummings’ willingness to listen to those concerns and to end this effort which I hope will not resurface."
While expanded enrollment might help pay for the rebrand, it could be an expensive undertaking. The university had estimated the new name would initially cost $1.2 million because of the need to switch out logos, signage, stationery, uniforms, and other items, according to a trustee report. Another $1 million would be required over a three- to five-year period for marketing the new identity.
Those types of costs aren’t unusual. A few years ago, what is now Augusta University, a public institute about the size of USM in Georgia, created a name to represent its formation from the merger of of two smaller schools. The reported price tag of the identity: $4 million. The school then had to rechristen itself again when students, alumni and local residents hated the new moniker, Georgia Regents University.
With tuition at colleges — and their competition for market share — on the rise, many of them are also looking at their names as a marketing tool.
"All across America, and especially here in New England, we're seeing sharper competition or even colleges closing," Cummings said. "It creates a deep drive to get students in the door." A college's identity is part of the draw, he explained. And sometimes changing it can have powerful effects.
For example, just four years after changing its name in 2001 from Beaver College to Arcadia University, the private school in suburban Philadelphia had doubled its enrollment, according to a New York Times story. A school near Baltimore went from Western Maryland College to McDaniel College in 2002 and quickly saw an increase in fundraising and applications.
In Maine, some colleges have adopted new identities over the years, but usually because of a structural change.
The University of New England was formed in 1978 from the merger of St. Francis College in Biddeford and the New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. After joining with Westbrook College in 1996, the combined institutions briefly took on that name before reverting to UNE's current identity.
The University of Maine, known by that name since 1897, became the University of Maine at Orono when the UMaine System was incorporated in 1968. The school switched back to its former name in 1986.
Cummings said USM could consider alternatives to the proposed name "if they still do the job for us." It's too early to say what they might be, or if USM will ultimately adopt the name that’s now on hold.
If the school does, it too would be returning to historical roots. USM has used several names since its beginnings in 1878. From 1957 to its merger with Gorham State College in 1970, the campus in the state’s largest city was known as the University of Maine at Portland.
The name of the merged school became the University of Maine Portland-Gorham and then changed to the University of Southern Maine in 1978.
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