NORTH CENTRAL’S NEW NAME DISAPPOINTING, UNNECESSARY
For generations of North Central College graduates, those three words represent far more than the institution printed on our diplomas. They represent a community, an education and a legacy built over 165 years.
The decision to rename our alma mater “North Central University Naperville” has left many alumni disappointed, frustrated and questioning whether the institution’s leadership truly understands what makes the school so special.
This disappointment is not about resisting change. It is about protecting an identity that has grown stronger with every generation of Cardinals.
When NCC opened in 1861 as Plainfield College, it welcomed just 40 students. The college grew and changed, becoming North-Western College in 1864 and then North Central College in 1926, the latter to avoid confusion with Northwestern University. The first graduating class in 1866 had just three students. This year, there were a record of 932.
That remarkable growth didn’t happen because the institution repeatedly reinvented its identity. It happened because North Central built something worth believing in. Its founders did not establish a college simply to create a name. They envisioned a place where students and faculty could come together in pursuit of education, character, opportunity and community.
That vision has endured through economic uncertainty, technological advances and dramatic changes in higher education.
Like many of my fellow alumni, I chose North Central College intentionally. I did not want the traditional large-university experience. I wanted a smaller academic community where professors knew their students, relationships mattered and education extended beyond the classroom. That distinction was not a limitation. It was its greatest strength.
Leadership argues the institution has evolved beyond the traditional definition of a college. NCC now offers graduate programs and professional degrees. This, supposedly, requires a name that better reflects its academic offerings.
But the world has always been changing. Today’s students are preparing for careers that do not yet exist, using technologies that continue to transform entire industries. Colleges and universities must anticipate those changes, expand opportunities and prepare graduates for an uncertain future.
However, this does not require abandoning the legacy that brought us here. NCC has adapted for generations. Its growth from three graduates to 932 is evidence of that, not proof that its name has become obsolete.
Rebranding can make sense when an institution needs to escape a damaged reputation, refine its mission, separate itself from a like-named school or rebuild public confidence. North Central has no such crisis.
North Central College has spent 165 years building a reputation that cannot simply be manufactured through marketing. Its success doesn’t mean its name has become obsolete. It is evidence that its name has become valuable.
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Why abandon the very identity that generations have worked so hard to build?
Kristi (Heckman) Hull, Class of 2007
Round Rock, Texas
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