Question:
The college started thinking about a
change in 1998, when educators visiting the college
for its periodic accreditation renewal suggested it
should seek university status because of its growing
graduate programs. The idea appealed to Landman, who
said the college designation was a handicap to
Beaver's efforts at expanding its already robust
overseas connections to universities in China, Korea
and elsewhere. Not only was it hard for Beaver to
secure agreements for its own students to study
abroad, it was difficult for Beaver to attract
foreign exchange students because college generally
means high school or trade school abroad.
Landman said that if Beaver were going to
change to a university, it might also be an
appropriate time to change the Beaver as well,
because the old name had come to be something of a
burden.
In a letter to alumni and parents in
February, Landman wrote that "the word 'beaver' too
often elicits ridicule in the form of derogatory
remarks pertaining to the rodent, the TV show 'Leave
it to Beaver,' and the vulgar reference to the
female anatomy."
Worse, the college's marketing research
had found that the school appealed to 30 percent
fewer prospective students solely because of the
name.
In addition, Beaver officials found that
some computer filters that parents and libraries
install to block access to pornographic Internet
sites are preventing prospective students from
accessing Beaver College information online.
The college's outreach to alumni, faculty,
parents, students and neighbors elicited more than
300 suggestions for a new name. The suggestions came
from everywhere.
"One day I was in the 7-Eleven, and a man
came up to me who recognized me and said, 'Did you
get the name suggestion I sent you in the mail?' "
Landman said, laughing. "He had no connection with
the school other than that he lived nearby."
But early on, the committee charged with
discussing names came up with Arcadia, as a way to
imply the college's commitment to close student-
faculty interaction, its broader reach as a school
with graduate programs, and its strong international
program. The word generated high marks among high
school students and their parents in focus groups
held in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and
Philadelphia.
Answer:
Actually, the school was established in 1856 in the borough of Beaver PA (named
for a Governor of PA), out near Pittsburgh and was called the "Beaver Female
Seminary"; over the years, it became co-ed, and was chartered as a college by
the Commonwealth of PA. It moved across the state in 1907, first to
Jenkintown, and then to Glenside in the 1920s. It went back to being an
all-girls school at that time and did not become coed until the 70s.
Someone told me that the term "beaver" was actually connected with the original
school (some guy who tried to score with one of the students, I guess), but I
don't know for sure.
And to answer Dr. Bear's query, their sports team is called the "Scarlet
Knights" (they stole it from Rutgers, for some reason). When friends and
relatives come in from CA, they always go to the campus store for t-shirts,
etc. to take back and show everyone, in return we get UC-Santa Cruz slug
shirts.
