Adams State Takes Steps to Change Name to University

Johanna Keever
The Paw Print
Adams State College is making big changes in 2012, with most of the construction finished on campus; the next step for the college is to get the bill passed on changing Adams State College into Adams State University.
On August 26, 2011, the Broad of Trustees made an 8-1 decision to change Adams State into a University.  The decision was made because a study shows that more people associate a University as being more important.  
Ann Rice summarized the decision “We’ve had a lot of conversation about this. I don’t think the timing could be better. The reality is that younger people consider the university name to be important. We’ve reached a milestone with our campus renovations, and there’s a new energy and vitality on campus. This is the perfect time to crown all that with a name that seems more current and applicable to the people who attend the institution.”
In September 2011 President David Svaldi wrote in an opinion “over the past two years Adams State has been contemplating changing its name to Adams State University.  The broad felt that it was a rational decision for the institution since its four other name changes.”

Photo by Brenda Figueroa: ASC is working to pass a bill to rename the college as a university.

For over nine decades Adams State has evolved from a Normal School through three additional names. The original legislation approved the establishment of Alamosa State College, but instead the school was named Adams State Normal School when it opened in 1925 in honor of Governor Billy Adams.  In 1929 the school changed the name to Adams State Teacher college of Southern Colorado, and shortened to Adams State Teachers College in 1938.  In 1946 the school adopted the name Adams State College to reflect the broader offering of undergraduate liberal arts programs and the expansion of graduate degree programs.
In August of 2011 the board of trustees approved the name change, since one-quarter of the students at ASC are enrolled in graduate level programs and it is being operated already as a university, they felt the name should reflect that role.  The mission of Adams State will not change its main quality and values, and it will not turn into a large impersonal, expensive institution.
The process of changing the name of Adams State is a long one.  Since the names of institutions are made part of law, it has to be introduced to the states House and later the Senate.  Edward Vigil and Gail Schwartz are both sponsoring the bill.  Colorado Assembly came back into session January 11 and the bill was introduced to the House and passed along to Committee by the House Speaker.
If passed the report will go back to the House to be read for a second time, take verbally vote and read a third time and vote on record. If the House approves the bill it will move along to the Senate.  The bill will go through the same process in Senate until signed by the Governor and put into law, a long process that is said to be approved earliest in March.

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