As the debate continues to over what Mississippi University for Women eventually will call itself, one person, whose opinion might matter greatly down the road, has weighed in.
Mary Alice White, the niece of Pulitzer-prize winning writer Eudora Welty, said she would be happy to see MUW become Welty University.
White and her sister, Liz Thompson — also Welty”s niece — were willed control of Welty”s estate and copyrights after the author died in 2001. White is an employee of Mississippi Archives and History and is the director the Welty house in Jackson.
“We”ve always said it would be an honor and it is the university”s decision,” she said. “Eudora did enjoy her days there.”
Welty attended The W for two years in the 1920s. She left after her sophomore year and went to school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Columbia University.
Some opponents of the name Welty University have implied the writer detested her time at the school. White said this simply isn”t true.
“I don”t know where that opinion came from, but she absolutely enjoyed her time at The W,” she said. “She left really to see more of the world, but she always had a good relationship with The W.”
White”s assessment of her aunt”s time at the school is corroborated in the book “Early Escapades,” by Patti Carr Black. In the book, Black recounts Welty”s life up until she became a well-known author. During her two years at MUW, Welty worked for the school paper, acted in several school plays and served as the fire drill captain of Hastings Hall.
During the presidency of Clyda Rent, Welty visited the campus a number of times.
In the end, however, White isn”t necessarily lobbying for any one name in particular.
“I want to do whatever is best for the school,” she said. “I want the school to be successful, and would want the name — whatever is chosen — to be in the best interests of that goal.”
Welty University is one of three names the school is test marketing. The other two are Reneau University and Waverley University.
The school previously had The Cirlot Agency marketing firm test the names Reneau University, Waverley University and Welty-Reneau University, with online polls and focus groups of high school seniors.
The MUW naming committee selected those three names out of more than 1,000 submitted proposals.
But after a March 24 presentation to the naming committee, MUW President Dr. Claudia Limbert opted to have Welty University added to the roster of potential names. A significant number of study participants said that they did not like the hyphenated name Welty-Reneau. They preferred Welty University as a stand-alone name, representatives from The Cirlot Agency noted, suggesting the group consider the name Welty University.
Of the initial three finalist in the name search, Waverley University (43 percent) came out as a slight overall favorite over Reneau University (33 percent) and Welty-Reneau University (24 percent).
Recently, the local chapter of the NAACP has come out against two of the new names the Mississippi University for Women is considering.
In a letter written to Limbert, Lowndes County NAACP President Lavonne Harris came down hard against the names Reneau University and Waverley University.
“The names Reneau and Waverley are both derived from slave holding plantations in the Old South,” the letter reads.
Whatever name is selected, it will be the fourth name for the historic university. MUW was founded as the Industrial Institute and College in 1884 and was the first state-supported college for women. In 1920, II&C became Mississippi State College for Women. And in 1974, MUW adopted its current name.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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