10 years later, what do NLU graduates think?
After much consideration, the University of Louisiana at Monroe was chosen in 1999 as the official school name, but not without a history of several other names.
After changing from Northeast Junior College to Northeast Louisiana University and finally to the ULM known today, some wonder if the numerous changes haven’t inadvertently disconnected the university with some of the alumni.
Junior English major from Leesville Andrea Jackson shares her reasoning as to why this could be the case.
“The degree on their wall doesn’t say ULM; it says NLU. They may not feel the need to be loyal to ULM because that’s not the school they attended. The school they attended technically doesn’t exist anymore,” said Jackson.
While some may acknowledge the possibility of losing connections with alumni because of name changes, others don’t.
Junior General Studies major from West Monroe, Kami Aaron, believes that it’s still the same school.
“It’s not the name of the school. If anything, it would be the ULM system. You can change the name again tomorrow, but it wouldn’t matter because it’s still the same school,” said Aaron.
Sociology professor Marsha McGee feels that if there is a disconnection, people should move on.
“It been over 10 years; I would hope people would have accepted it by now. I see ULM Alumni bumper stickers all the time.”
Sharon Hargrove, a 1977 alumni of NLU, believes that old habits may die hard, but time makes room for change.
“Some people still call it NLU, but it’s been a long time. You just have to adjust,” Hargrove said.
