KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s an idea that has floating around the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus for some time, and now it’s starting to gain some traction: Drop the Missouri.
Officials with UMKC are considering a plan to change the school’s name back to it’s original name, the University of Kansas City.
The university opened as the University of Kansas City in 1929, and became the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1963 when it joined the University of Missouri system, joining campuses in Columbia, St. Louis and Rolla.
UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton told The Kansas City Star that the name change would better identify the university with its mission to be a model urban research university.
“A name defines who you are, but it also defines whose you are,” said Morton, adding that the change would help to differentiate the school from the University of Missouri in Columbia, and to clear up the occasional misconception that UMKC is a satellite campus of Mizzou and not a stand-alone university.
School officials say that the name change could cost the school around $500,000 for signage and other material, and must first be approved by the UM Board of Curators. Funds for the proposed name change would have to be raised from donors, as state funds cannot be used in this instance.
UMKC students like junior Josh Boehm like the proposed name change.
“I think it’s a terrific idea,” said Boehm. “I think it helps UMKC or this university establish its own independence from the rest of the UM system without necessarily having the risk of independence that a lot of universities have to face. It was once KCU or UKC, so I think it would be an interesting return to its historic routes and I think it’s just what Kansas City needs.”
In 2008, the University of Missouri-Rolla changed it’s name to the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
