“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
\nBy any other name would smell as sweet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201d Shakespeare, Romeo and Julie<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Search for the Espa\u00c3\u00b1ola-based institution of higher learning and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll likely find sites for Northern New Mexico COLLEGE and Northern New Mexico UNIVERSITY. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a typo. Those who created the various web sites clearly knew what they were doing.<\/p>\n
But having both \u00e2\u20ac\u0153college\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153university\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to identify the same institution is confusing, if not misleading. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153University\u00e2\u20ac\u009d denotes a place that offers coursework and degrees beyond the baccalaureate (or bachelor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s) level.<\/p>\n
The place that now calls itself a university has no such offerings.<\/p>\n
In late January the board of regents of Northern New Mexico COLLEGE voted to give the Espa\u00c3\u00b1ola-area school a promotion. And with little fanfare, the institution became Northern New Mexico UNIVERSITY.<\/p>\n
The regents ought to have recalled Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lines (above) from Romeo and Juliet first, rather than assuming that calling the school a university makes it so. And understandably, many people have weighed in on the issue.<\/p>\n
A proposal to change \u00e2\u20ac\u0153college\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153university\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was submitted in the just-concluded 60-day session of the New Mexico Legislature, but, as with most bills, it died there. But not to worry: A university sounds classier than just a college (remember, only a few years ago, NNMC was a mere community college).<\/p>\n
Any definition of a university is going to include the notion of having a number of graduate programs. That means offering courses beyond the senior level.<\/p>\n
Junior and community colleges traditionally offer only associate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s degrees; colleges grant bachelor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s degrees; universities, such as The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, Eastern New Mexico University and our own Highlands University have the staff, equipment, facilities and expertise to offer degrees beyond the bachelor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s level. In fact, a little-known fact about Highlands is that in the mid-1960s, it conducted a doctoral program in one of the sciences, and for a few years conferred Ph.D. degrees.<\/p>\n
One key issue, highlighted by members of the legislature, asks by what authority the regents at Northern voted 4-0 in January to dress the Espa\u00c3\u00b1ola campus in fancier attire. The regents were hasty in agreeing to slap on a new and classier sounding appendage to the school.<\/p>\n
The regents ought to have realized the ramifications of such a step. If Northern wants to run with the big dogs, it needs a massive infusion of funding, upper level course offerings and talent, which includes experienced faculty holding terminal degrees. It needs to beef up its anemic offerings, and it needs the imprimatur from the New Mexico Legislature.<\/p>\n
Northern can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fly as a university with its preponderance of adjunct faculty hired mainly on an as-needed basis and not being issued long-term, full-time contracts or tenure.<\/p>\n
Ricky Serna, a vice president at Northern, says he believes Northern did nothing wrong in the name change. Oh, but they most certainly did.<\/p>\n
Regents don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t magically transform a regular college to a university simply by tacking a new sign on the administration building and by designing a new web page.<\/p>\n
Just as colleges and universities throughout New Mexico are facing the reality of lowered enrollment and the necessity of raising tuition and fees, it seems the regents at Northern suddenly have been beset by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153name inflation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as one reader of Northern\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s news release opined.<\/p>\n
Just to make sure, I phoned the Espa\u00c3\u00b1ola campus and spoke to a staff member of the registrar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office, inquiring about the possibility of someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enrolling in graduate courses there. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually have master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s courses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the employee replied. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking of going back to calling Northern a college.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
As we pointed out in a recent editorial on this subject, Arizona, with perhaps triple our population, has only three universities: University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. However, it has dozens of well-coordinated colleges and junior colleges that feed the larger universities.<\/p>\n
People browsing the net and coming across Northern\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website understandably might assume it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an institution that might allow them to pick up post-bachelors credits or even an advanced degree. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unfair to imply such when too much is lacking.<\/p>\n
In the case of Northern New Mexico, the proper step is to go back to calling it what it is.<\/p>\n
A new sign by the college entrance does not a university make.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Last week I devoted too much ink, lying prostrate in abject apology for not being a math whiz. I mistook diameter for circumference in a reference to pi.<\/p>\n
Then I posted a question, which follows:<\/p>\n
We know about some of the knights of the Round Table, such as Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad and Sir Bors.<\/p>\n
Can anyone identify the most obese knight? And why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so named?<\/p>\n
Hint: It is neither Sir Spamalot nor Sir Lunchalot.<\/p>\n
The answer is Sir Cumference. Why? Because eats too much pi.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Shakespeare, Romeo and Julie \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Search for the Espa\u00c3\u00b1ola-based institution of higher learning and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll likely find sites for Northern New Mexico COLLEGE and Northern New Mexico UNIVERSITY. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a typo. Those who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}