ST. LOUIS
University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Thomas George has joined those opposing a proposed name change for the system’s Columbia campus.
George initially said he did not object to the University of Missouri-Columbia proposal to drop Columbia from its name and become simply the University of Missouri. That’s the name by which the school was known from its formation in 1839 until the four-campus system’s creation 124 years later.
But George now says that pressure from internal and external university groups has pushed him to change his stance.
In his state of the university address Tuesday, George said the proposed name change would “weaken the integrity of the University of Missouri system as a whole.”
“I want to affirm that we here in St. Louis are the University of Missouri,” he said. “We’re proud of that.”
The proposal also has generated concern among faculty and student groups at the St. Louis, Rolla and Kansas City campuses.
