“What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
—Juliet Capulet says, in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
The Mississippi University for Women shall have the same buildings and same “little postage stamp of native soil” should it become Wynbridge State University of Mississippi. The Columbus Female Institute, founded in 1847, became the Industrial Institute and College, chartered in 1884 and opened in 1885. The II & C became the Mississippi State College for Women, in 1920. The Mississippi State College for Women renamed itself the Mississippi University for Women, in 1974.
Mississippi State University nearby was the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (Mississippi A&M), from 1878 until 1958. The school strengthened following integration in 1965, as did the University of Mississippi in 1962 and the Mississippi University for Women in 1966.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same” (a phrase first found in French in 1849: “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose”): Bejing was Peking, Chennai was Madras, Mumbai was Bombay, Thailand was Siam, and Zimbabwe was Rhodesia. Each survived without losing identity.
I do not care whether the Mississippi University for Women becomes Wynbridge State University of Mississippi: I am not an alumnus nor do I inhabit the Golden Triangle. Yet I assert opportunity to object: Siblings of two ancestors were in the first two graduating classes. Others graduated in the early years. My second-cousin Bill Wiener suggests that their enrollment intended to enable women in the family to raise children more intelligently.
Mathilde Wiener sits on the right side of the second row, in the photograph of the first graduating class, her left hand resting upon the shoulder of the lady sitting before her and the left hand of the lady sitting beside her resting on the left knee of “Aunt Tillie,” conveying bonds of affection and great adventure among the trailblazers enrolled in the first state-sponsored institute of higher learning for females. “Aunt Tillie” became the subject of a thesis and a talk at the Columbus Public Library.
I ask: Is Wynbridge State University of Mississippi the best name for the alma mater of ancestors’ sisters and women regarded fondly. Wynbridge sounds commercial — another instance of the Babbittry invading American life like kudzu — similar to Staybridge Suites (an IHG brand).
Welty University won’t work: Eudora Welty is associated with Jackson, nowhere near Columbus. Eleanor Nugent Somerville was the first female legislator in Mississippi, but she was from the Delta, nowhere near Columbus. Evelyn Gandy was the first woman elected to statewide office in Mississippi, but she was from Hattiesburg, nowhere near Columbus.
Tammy Wynette came from the northeast corner of the state, but she had no association with the university, warranting Wynette University.
The proper name remains indeterminate. One shall reveal itself in the fullness of time. Selecting a name for the sake of doing so is like attempting to pound a square peg into a round hole: a waste of time.
Please do not rename “the W” simply to satisfy desire to do so: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
Jay Wiener is a Northsider
