Lakeland administration is considering changing the name of the school from Lakeland College to Lakeland University. According to Lakeland College President Dan Eck, the concept is in the preliminary stages of development.

“We are going to study it this semester to see whether it is worth it or not,” Eck said. “It comes up every few years at Lakeland, and what we are going to do this semester is pull together a cross-campus team to look at the issue, so we’ll ask some faculty, staff members, students and alumni to be on a team to meet a couple times to brainstorm about the issue.”

One thing Eck intends to explore with that team is the benefits of such a change. For example, it is speculated that the change might attract higher numbers of international students. In other countries, the word “college” has a less prestigious connotation than “university,” causing some confusion among international students.

“They think it is a technical college or even a higher level high school rather than university,” Eck said.

However, the international connotations of the word “college” are not the only source of confusion.

“Not a week goes by that there isn’t some confusion in the public between us and Lakeshore Technical College (LTC),” Eck said. “We’ll have people call here thinking they are calling LTC. I’ll be talking out in public and people will confuse Lakeland College with LTC all the time. Lakeshore and Lakeland (sound) very similar.”

Other factors to be taken into consideration include what prestige might be implied by changing the name and the potential marketing benefits. The team will discuss whether or not these benefits justify the expenses involved in the transition.

The potential negative repercussions of the change will also be discussed. Questions have already been raised about whether or not the change would alter the general atmosphere of Lakeland. According to Eck, it does not have to. Marian, Carroll and Rockford are a few universities that have set a precedent for successful transitions from being known as a college to being known as a university.

“We have to make sure that if we do this, we don’t forget what makes Lakeland special: the faculty-student connection, the small campus feel and the ability for students to get experience they can’t get at larger campuses,” Eck said. “If we would lose that, that’s not a great thing, no matter what our name is.”

The process is intended to be open and Eck anticipates listening sessions on campus in which the subject will be discussed. Students will also be invited to voice their opinions if the idea is developed further. The final decision will be made by the board of trustees.