TO avoid confusion with Colorado State University, Charles Sturt University will no longer consciously be referred to as CSU.
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Instead, there will be a push from management to informally refer to the institution as Charles Sturt.
It follows vice-chancellor Andrew Vann declaring on Monday that a plan to junk the name Charles Sturt University, in favour of Sturt University, had been abandoned.
“We heard loud and clear from your stories that you are connected to our name and our rich history,” Professor Vann said in a statement.
“We believe it’s important we reflect the views of our community in our namesake.
“Our name will remain as Charles Sturt University.”
Deputy vice-chancellor (students) Jenny Roberts told The Border Mail it was clear feedback, which included a 6000-strong online petition opposing a name change, went against a name switch.
“It was well over 50 per cent, it was probably about 90 per cent...and people had a strong connection and relationship to the name,” Ms Roberts said, also acknowledging a survey by CSU, correspondence and social media comments.
More than 30 minutes was spent by the university council formally discussing the name at a meeting last week, before the majority supported a motion to retain Charles Sturt University.
Ms Roberts previously flagged confusion with the initials of Colorado State University in the US as a reason to adopt Sturt University.
She said to avoid that occurring there would be an explicit change in language when referring to Charles Sturt University.
“We want to stop using CSU, we will talk about us as Charles Sturt and we think that will help to address that confusion,” Ms Roberts said.
“It will be gradual over time and we all fall into the habit of calling us CSU, I think it will be something where we’ll transition over a number of years.”
However keeping the full name does not mean there won’t be changes to the university’s marketing and logo.
Asked whether that meant the stylised Sturt Desert Pea emblem would disappear, Ms Roberts said “we’re talking through some ideas”.
The logo was adopted in 2011 replacing a shield featuring the flower.
CSU’s highest profile Border academic Bruce Pennay welcomed the name retention, comparing it to other dual titled universities.
“The university has only a brief history, but the full name better reflects that history and the way in which three different regional centres (Albury, Bathurst and Wagga) came together to form the university,” he said.
“The retention of the first name implies that Charles Sturt is respected in much the same way as James Cook, Charles Darwin and Edith Cowan are.”