The Observer, October 13, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 7
Case employee supports CWRU name
Letter to the Editor
I have been in Development for a while–when philanthropy dollars were at the highest and now they are at the lowest. I have to say that I totally disagree with your assessment that another name change will only bring more disorder. I applaud the administration for finally listening not only to the staff here at the university who are trying to raise dollars for this university, but to the
alumni. The alumni are the people that make a difference in my life as a staff member and your life as a student. I think that the administration should change everything back to the way it was, Case Western Reserve University spelled out without italics to the word Case and bring the ray of sunshine logo back – no one had any qualms with it that way and the money flowed.
I make development calls for my boss and I/we in Development have tried our
best to communicate the message to the alumni since the name and logo change, but to no avail. Even though I do not hold a degree from a university, I have worked here long enough and I can understand the strong emotional ties and history that the older alumni have for this university. The name change alienated a lot of alumni, on both sides (i.e. Western Reserve and Case Institute graduates) and I can't blame them. I'm sure that as a student your thoughts and feelings will change over the years and if someone tried to change the name of the university you graduated from, years from now, you would feel the same way our alumni do now.
The memories of your years here at this university are your "heart strings" and taking away those memories or heart strings is what this university did to its alumni, even after the alumni said that they did not want the change to occur. A name change is for the corporate world and should be left there.
I believe that if the administration would have made this change perhaps
some 40 years from now, we would not have encountered this problem. But we
do have a problem, and it is real! Though silent, the voice of the alumni has spoken. They have closed their pocketbooks and wallets because of their significant resistance, and I believe not so much in the new logo of a "fat man carrying a surfboard" but of the name change to Case.
