September 25, 2004

Confusing U

Posted by Kieran

How many different (and distant) placenames can an institution fit into its name and address? Miami University, Oxford, Ohio is way out there in the lead, I think.

Posted on September 25, 2004 03:07 AM UTC
Comments

Not quite as good, but interesting:

http://www.iup.edu/

Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania

(that’s from the HTML Title of their homepage.)

It sounds like a multiple choice question.

Indiana University? of Pennsylvania? Indiana? Pennsylvania?

keef

Posted by keef · September 24, 2004 07:14 PM

It’s really not all that confusing.

Posted by Arthur Wouk · September 24, 2004 07:20 PM

They have to distinguish themselves from Miami of Fla. They also like to get the Oxford name in the mix, because they think they are the elite state school in Ohio?

They are the Miami Redhawks, but were formely known as the Redskins, to honor the former owners of the land.

More than you needed to know.

Posted by Greg Hunter · September 24, 2004 07:21 PM

Gregg Easterbrook always makes a big deal of the Obscure College [football] Game of the Year between Indiana University of Pennsylvania and California University of Pennsylvania (California, PA). Around Pittsburgh we call it IUP (and I guess CUP, though that doesn’t come up as much).

Posted by Matt Weiner · September 24, 2004 07:22 PM

They have to distinguish themselves from Miami of Fla. They also like to get the Oxford name in the mix, because they think they are the elite state school in Ohio?

They are the Miami Redhawks, but were formely known as the Redskins, to honor the former owners of the land.

More than you wanted to know.

Posted by Greg Hunter · September 24, 2004 07:23 PM

And yet nobody mentions Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. If only it was spelled “Edinburgh”.

Posted by Cryptic Ned · September 24, 2004 07:48 PM

I once spent a good 5 minutes puzzling over what a guy’s “AUM” sweatshirt meant. It turned out it was Auburn University - Montgomery campus.

Posted by Cryptic Ned · September 24, 2004 07:49 PM

The school known as Miami(OH) in the sports page fine print was founded in 1809. Miami(FL) was founded in 1925; that Miami area was pretty thoroughly untouched by the European invasion in 1809. So which is “distant”? Which needs to “distinguish” itself?

Posted by Ken D. · September 24, 2004 07:54 PM

I go to school at Athens, Ohio in the slightly less strange Ohio University(aka Harvard on the Hocking… go figure)
Therefore there is something i have to say just out of spite whenever MU is mentioned … and i apologize for this polluting the otherwise well meaning discourse and that is ‘Muck Fiami’

Posted by Adi · September 24, 2004 07:58 PM

Also, the Univ of Miami (FL) is not in Miami. It’s in Coral Gables.

Posted by P O'Neill · September 24, 2004 08:04 PM

Similarly, Boston College is neither in Boston, nor is it a college.

Posted by JP · September 24, 2004 08:10 PM

And then there’s Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, AKA “The Glorified Community College in a Cornfield” (Fight on, BG Warriors! Ziggy-Ziggy Zoomba!), which holds the slightly less ambitious aspiration of being confused with Western Kentucky University, in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Also, yes, Muck Fiami.

Posted by jdw · September 24, 2004 08:15 PM

Miami U (Ohio) is named for the Miami Indians who once lived in the Great Miami Valley in which Oxford is situated. Nothing “distant” about it.

Posted by David · September 24, 2004 08:18 PM

Nice campus there in Oxford (OH), too.

Posted by Arthur Wouk · September 24, 2004 08:27 PM

Hasn’t Bowling Green carved out a niche in political philosophy? I think their other claim to slight fame is that they give out tuition/room/board scholarships to National Merit finalists.

>I once spent a good 5 minutes puzzling over what a guy’s “AUM” sweatshirt meant. It turned out it was Auburn University - Montgomery campus.<

Well, I’m glad to hear it wasn’t Aum Shinrikyo.

Posted by will · September 24, 2004 08:42 PM

Hasn’t Bowling Green carved out a niche in political philosophy? I think their other claim to slight fame is that they give out tuition/room/board scholarships to National Merit finalists.

Yeah, just lighthearted knocking of the ol’ alma mater.

The education program was once considered good too, back when education programs could be considered “good”.

Posted by jdw · September 24, 2004 08:45 PM

California University in California Pennsylvania. Antioch College in Antioch, Ohio. Ohio Wesleyan, as opposed to Wesleyan. University of Phoenix everywhere except in Phoenix.

Posted by Rob · September 24, 2004 09:43 PM

There’s also the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff as distinct from Cardiff University (formerly University of Wales, Cardiff).

But looking at the list of institutions connected to the University of Wales I see that going to the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, the College d’Etudes Osteopathiques, Montreal and the European Institute of Oriental Medicine, Munich (amongst others) can get you a UW-validated degree.

Posted by Nick · September 24, 2004 10:23 PM

The University of Wales Institute reminds me of the even more bizarrely redundant-sounding University of Maryland University College.

Posted by KCinDC · September 24, 2004 11:25 PM

How about a University of Washington in Seattle Washington and a Washington University in St. Louis and a George Washington University in Washinton, DC.

That’s confusing.

Posted by Andrew McManama · September 24, 2004 11:56 PM

Weird synchronicity—I was just reeading up on P.J. O’Rourke this morning, for no real reason, and this is his old alma mater.

Posted by Nick Simmonds · September 24, 2004 11:58 PM

I think Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan qualifies for this thread.

Posted by Tom T. · September 25, 2004 12:49 AM

Two:

(1) I am the proud owner of a paint rag which was once a t-shirt that read “Miami’s in Ohio Dammit”. I attended that very nice stronghold of Georgian architecture in order to become a molecular botanist. (No comment on what good that did me. I know more about the genus Hosta and why it has stripes on the leaves than you do, though.)

(2) University of Phoenix is probably the one that freaks me out most. I know, it’s something like a cheat because it’s not (yes it is) a real (yes it is) University, but still… there’s a “campus” just down the street here in Ann Arbor, where we seem to have some other University already. One expects there to be a web page bearing “Find a campus Near You! Enter your ZIP code:”

Posted by Bill Tozier · September 25, 2004 02:13 AM

The cake taker: Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Oh, and: Manhattan College is in the Bronx. WTF?

Posted by Laszlo Panaflex · September 25, 2004 03:29 AM

Another couple of British ones: Sussex University is no longer in Sussex, as it’s now in the Unitary Authority of Brighton & Hove. And there’s always Warwick University, which is closer to Coventry than Warwick. Coventry, of course, was obviously a bad name - until the 90s, what’s now Coventry University was called Lanchester Polytechnic.

Posted by Nick · September 25, 2004 03:46 AM

The weirdest thing about IUPUI is that it’s pronounced “Oo-ee Poo-ee”. But maybe it balances out the people who think Giuseppe is spelled Guiseppe.

Posted by KCinDC · September 25, 2004 03:54 AM

Oddities, if not as good as the original:

Carthage College of Kenosha, WI.

Paris J.C. of Paris, TX.

University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.

My best one so far:

Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Sixteenth oldest in the USA.

Posted by Clyde Mnestra · September 25, 2004 03:59 AM

I’m getting further off course, but two nominations for the most artificial geographically diverse names:

Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management

Texas A&M International University (Laredo)

Posted by Clyde Mnestra · September 25, 2004 05:07 AM

“Manhattan College is in the Bronx. WTF”

On the other hand, Manhattan Christian College is in Manhattan, Kansas . . .

Posted by rea · September 25, 2004 03:40 PM

I can’t believe no one has mentioned the Holy Roman Empire University.

Neither Holy, nor Roman, nor Empire, nor is there really any such university.

Posted by skunky spliffmeister · September 25, 2004 03:58 PM

It kind of reminds of the joke about someone’s attempt to put as many prepositions at the end of a sentence as possible.

A child’s negative reaction upon the father bringing a bedtime storybook about Australia from downstairs:

“Daddy, why’d you bring that book about down under up for?

Posted by Randy Paul · September 25, 2004 10:55 PM

I grew up in Oxford, Ohio. It’s in the Miami Valley, where the Miami Indians lived. Nothing distant about that. Nobody knows for sure why the town was named Oxford. Maybe for Oxford, England, but maybe for a local ford across a creek or the Little Miami River for oxen.

Posted by Frank Brooks · September 26, 2004 01:49 AM

When I interviewed for a job at Miami U., I was told that the town was named after the college, in that the university had decided to organize in the same manner as Oxford U. I never tried to verify that. And now I’m at DePauw University, constantly having to tell people that it isn’t in Chicago (and that I don’t have a speech impediment).

Posted by Scott Spiegelberg · September 26, 2004 04:11 AM

I attended Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Miami of Ohio is the alma mater of one of my cousins. There is no Earlham Indiana, but there is an Earlham, Iowa, apparently named after Earlham College, but not sure.
P.S. Reverend Jim Jones spent some time in Richmond, IN until he got the spirit and moved to San Francisco, which is where I hail from now. Not that there’s anything good about that…..

Posted by Rob · September 26, 2004 09:02 PM

I learned somewhere along the line in law school that there are no law schools in Oregon. Is that true? Oh, and Phoenix is not a city, its a big hole in the desert that sucks up water and spits it out in Scottsdale.

Posted by rob · September 26, 2004 09:06 PM

There is no Miami of Ohio but then why should one who attends Earlham know that. Miami U has a long and distingushed history - a bit of “Yale of the Midwest” for those who need to to coat-tail to the ivys. (And OU is Harvard? LOL). Known for many things, including Alpha chapters of frats but most importantly as The Cradle of Coaches. A grad of MU tires of explaining to folks that we don’t have a major in windsurfing or surfing of any kind as a matter of fact and that located in the Miami Valley, formerly the home of the Miami Tribe and indeed it is the come-lately UofM in Florida (unless it’s been relocated by one of the recent hurricanes)who is the Confusing U since they are not even located in Miami.

Posted by Tribe Miami · September 27, 2004 02:30 AM

Christ Church, Oxford? I think that takes the prize, given that Christchurch is about as far away from Oxford as it is possible to get and still be on the surface of the earth.

Posted by ajay · September 27, 2004 11:14 AM

I rather like London’s University College School.

Posted by john b · September 27, 2004 11:33 AM

Oh, and: Manhattan College is in the Bronx. WTF?

And Long Island University is in Brooklyn.

When reading American sports journalism you also have to remember that “Oxford” refers to the home town of the University of Mississippi.

Oxford, North Carolina, is home to a community college, but unfortunately it’s named “Vance-Granville Community College”.

I kind of like “New Jersey City University”, which can be parsed in a number of ways. Since there is no such city as “New Jersey City”, it must be either the city university of New Jersey, or the new university of Jersey City. Since it used to be called “Jersey City State College”, I guess the new name celebrates its new status as a university.

Then there’s also “The College of New Jersey”, which used to be Trenton State. Princeton, of course, was the original College of New Jersey. Then there’s “The State University of New Jersey”, which most people know as Rutgers.

Posted by Cryptic Ned · September 27, 2004 03:04 PM

I think you mean University College London (where I’m at). There’s actually a basis for the name - in the beginning it was plain old University of London, first uni in England after Ox/Cambridge. Introduced systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine to English universities. Secular, gender/racially blind, generally cool. Then comes along the establishment and feels that all this rot is rather dangerous, so sets up another centre of higher learning - Kings (as suggested by the name, firmly in the CoE / class-based tradition that Oxbridge had sustained). Two universities a city cannot contain (? maybe this is no longer true) so both became Colleges under the umbrella of the University of London. Hence, Kings College London and the oddly titled University College London.

Posted by Alex Fradera · September 27, 2004 05:47 PM

In the US, Queens College is in Queens, New York City. Kings College, on the other hand, is in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Posted by Cryptic Ned · September 27, 2004 09:28 PM

Why pick on the little guys? Harvard University isn’t in Harvard, Massachusetts. And, a little off topic, I’m fond of promulgating the rule that, when you see an American city named after a foreign city, it’s pronounced differently: Mosk-oh, Idaho; Kay-ro, Illinois. I don’t count Paris, Texas, or Paris, Kentucky; or Rome, New York.

Posted by Matt's mom · September 28, 2004 02:52 PM

The University of Dallas is in Irving, TX. The University of Texas at Dallas is in Richardson, TX. (Irving is also, of course, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.)

Then there is the University of Texas - Pan American, which could hardly avoid being in its namesake. (it is in Edinburg, TX) Texas A&M International University is in Laredo, TX.

Texas is also home to the rather generic, yet deceptive, Midwestern State University. Texas is not, last time I checked, a midwestern state.

Posted by rvman · September 28, 2004 04:56 PM

The University of Dallas is in Irving, TX. The University of Texas at Dallas is in Richardson, TX. (Irving is also, of course, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.)

Then there is the University of Texas - Pan American, which could hardly avoid being in its namesake. (it is in Edinburg, TX) Texas A&M International University is in Laredo, TX.

Texas is also home to the rather generic, yet deceptive, Midwestern State University. Texas is not, last time I checked, a midwestern state.

Posted by rvman · September 28, 2004 04:57 PM
Followups

→ University of Phoenix?.
Excerpt: Comments to this Crooked Timber post remind me of something that's been bothering me--what major universities are there in Phoenix, Arizona? It's the sixth largest city in the U.S., yet I don't know of a single major school that's based...Read more at Opiniatrety

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.