Why isn't UC Berkeley more extensively "Cal"?? (Chico: area, rain)

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Suddenly feeling the urge to climb a campus tree and recite terms "unacceptable" to the university. Protesting the Regents is part and parcel of the UC experience, of course.

While all the campuses sharing similar colors is a bit silly enough, why the hell does Cal and UCLA share the same fight song?

I believe it traces back to both bands playing the song of the university on the field (I believe) of Memorial Stadium.

UCLA took the tune itself, rewrote the words, and did so on the basis that it belonged to the University of California (shared heritage), not the Berkeley campus.

UC Berkeley objected, of course, but lost the argument.

I'm surprised though that you didn't throw the whole Bears/Bruins thing into the mix; it fits, doesn't it?

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

East Bay State and Cal State San Francisco?

Usually the CSU schools are called "Cal State (name of city)." However, the San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego campuses are called San Jose State, San Francisco State, and San Diego State, and don't follow the pattern, probably because they are the oldest schools established and their names are similarly well established. I think SJ State is probably the oldest university in California, even predating UC Berkeley.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Suddenly feeling the urge to climb a campus tree and recite terms "unacceptable" to the university. Protesting the Regents is part and parcel of the UC experience, of course.

While all the campuses sharing similar colors is a bit silly enough, why the hell does Cal and UCLA share the same fight song?

You mean, Big C and Sons of Westwood? Oh gosh, there was a big battle over that. Fortunately, both schools have a number of fight songs to differentiate the schools.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I myself am a graduate of UIC, the University of Illinois at Chicago. I'd like to think my school is one of the more successful of the Univ of ___ @ ___ schools. It's logo uses UIC all by itself or, in other instances, with the full university name. Either way, it stresses the three letters, written bold, with no interfering graphics. The idea is UIC should be able to say it all. Is UIC a UCLA? Of course not. UCLA is older, one of the top public universities in the nation, containing a special aura, and an athletic powerhouse. What UIC does have, however, is Chicago, which is the same kind of bonus that UCLA gets with Los Angeles and which schools like UAB or UMSL of UNCC are not going to get from Birmingham, St. Louis, or Charlotte respectively. Being in places like Chicago and Los Angeles can be real image boosters.

Great post. Just wondering, how do you further distinguish yourselves from your counterparts at Urbana-Champaign, who seem to like to just call themselves UI, Illinois, the Illini, etc.?

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Usually the CSU schools are called "Cal State (name of city)." However, the San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego campuses are called San Jose State, San Francisco State, and San Diego State, and don't follow the pattern, probably because they are the oldest schools established and their names are similarly well established. I think SJ State is probably the oldest university in California, even predating UC Berkeley.

I'm not so sure about that. Here are more:

Humboldt State
Chico State
Sonoma State
Fresno State
Long Beach State

Some of them even use that form for their official names. However, you may be right that it has something to do with the age of the campus.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Shelacious

Having said that--each department at UCB runs its own house

I don't believe "UCB" is allowed either. At least it didn't used to be.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I'm surprised though that you didn't throw the whole Bears/Bruins thing into the mix; it fits, doesn't it?

Prior to UCLA's founding, Cal's football team was often referred to as the Bruins.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by edsg25

On the playing field, the University of California Berkeley is Cal, or its lengthened and less used form of "California".

In the classroom, well, not so much.

While the university approves the use of UC Berkeley, Berkeley, and Cal, outside of athletics, Cal is not used as extensively as I think it should.

And I'm not sure why.

As the oldest and flagship member of the UC system, the university has title to the "University of California" for athletics and the ability to use "Cal" any way it wishes. Seems to me you should take advantage of your givens.

There is a power and statewide image (of an exceedingly prominent Golden State) in the use of "Cal". Other high powered flagship institutions that have name association with both state and city make far more use of the state name. I'm thinking of schools like UT Austin and UW Madison which see themselves as Texas and Wisconsin respectively.

Cal could do the same. Cal could also do what no other UC does on its logo: project the words "University of California" larger than the rest (the current logo uses a huge "Berkeley") or even make the word "Cal' the logo's centerpiece.

I realize this may sound like fluff, and may well be, but I know that imagining is extremely important to any university or other institution for that matter.

Look, we are talking about the #1 public university in America. Everybody knows the place. And everybody, as a result, knows what "Berkeley" stands for. But it still seems to me that a shift from "Berkeley" to "Cal" is a better imagine and that if that switch were made, in the long run it would produce the type of results that would benefit the university.

I may be well off base on this. It's just my opinion. I'm sure many people would disagree with me.

What do you think?

You are extremely off-base about this.

I knew what UC Berkeley was because my dad went to Yale and Harvard, and I spent my teen years in Cambridge entrenched in that who ivy-league culture... but the vast bulk of people in the Northeast wouldn't know what the heck you were talking about if you said "Cal," and neither would people in the South, the Midwest, the PNW... for that matter, in Boston, if you say you went to Berkeley, they'll probably mistake it for Berklee (College of Music) and ask you what instrument you play.

Even down in LA, the only time I heard it referred to as "Cal" was when I was talking to someone who went there. Everyone says "UC Berkeley." Whenever it came up in conversation in Boston/Cambridge, it was "UC Berkeley."

Not to rain on your parade, but UCLA has 10x the recognition nationally.

If they want to create a brand around it like Harvard has with their crest or UCLA or USC have with just their acronyms, then that's totally fine, and more power to them. As of right now, it's an extremely ambiguous regional term with little national recognition outside of Norcal and academic circles.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Great post. Just wondering, how do you further distinguish yourselves from your counterparts at Urbana-Champaign, who seem to like to just call themselves UI, Illinois, the Illini, etc.?

UIUC within the system gets to call itself Illinois. UIC is UIC; UIS (Springfield....a much, much smaller school) is UIS. The logos support all three of these names.

U of I means UIUC only; it is a Champaign/Urbana name and is not related to the system. Yes, you can see "UI", but it really isn't common. I would say that in adjoining states, UI is Iowa, U of I is Illinois, IU is Indiana (which is, of course, Indiana University.....not the University of Indiana.

Illini is athletic....or a reference to the student body and is strictly Urbana.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Usually the CSU schools are called "Cal State (name of city)." However, the San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego campuses are called San Jose State, San Francisco State, and San Diego State, and don't follow the pattern, probably because they are the oldest schools established and their names are similarly well established. I think SJ State is probably the oldest university in California, even predating UC Berkeley.

San Jose State has flirted with changing its name to be like all those Cal States. But they want to do it with a twist that incredibly favors them.

As the state's oldest public school (obviously the oldest of the CSU's), it envisioned itself being a CSU counterpart to Berkeley in the UC system.

In other words, it wanted to make itself Cal State with little reference to the city name.