Restoration of the Mary Washington College Name

We, the undersigned, as students, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumni of the University of Mary Washington (formerly Mary Washington College), as well as members of the greater Fredericksburg and Mary Washington communities, are duly disappointed and dismayed that the name Mary Washington College has been unceremoniously dismissed as soon as the name change from Mary Washington College to University of Mary Washington took effect on July 1, 2004.

This happened contrary to the expectations that were held as a result of numerous promises that the Fredericksburg campus would retain the name Mary Washington College, and that the name change would only provide an umbrella name that would connect the James Monroe Center for Graduate Studies and Mary Washington College together for administrative purposes. Said promises were made by a variety of administrators, members of the Board of Visitors, and the president of the institution himself, Dr. William Anderson Jr. In November 2003, a story on two new proposed university names published in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star emphasized that Anderson has not revealed which name he prefers, saying only that Mary Washington College will be preserved, regardless of the new university name, but his actions have proved this to be at the very least intentionally misleading. Keeping Mary Washington as part of the university name and removing it from the Fredericksburg campus altogether does not count as preservation of Mary Washington College.

Granted, the name Mary Washington College of the University of Mary Washington may well seem redundant and repetitive, but in this manner both the history and the future of this fine institution are represented at one time, without sacrificing one for the other as President Anderson has done.

Therefore, we respectfully request the following of Governor Mark Warner and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia:

1. We request that the name Mary Washington College be reinstated for the Fredericksburg campus, underneath the umbrella name University of Mary Washington.
2. We request that those students who matriculated on or before the July 1, 2004 name change be allowed to have the choice to have the name of the University of Mary Washington on their diplomas, i.e. either the diploma will read Mary Washington College or Mary Washington College of the University of Mary Washington, and each student would be allowed to make that decision for themselves.

Thank you for your time.