At present, no single institution exists with the specific, official name of the University of Louisiana, although it is sometimes used to refer to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Historical references
University of Louisiana buildings on University Place, New Orleans, 1848
- In 1847 the original University of Louisiana was established as a public university in New Orleans. Previously known as the Medical College of Louisiana (est. 1834), the college added law and collegiate undergraduate departments to become the University of Louisiana. The name was revised in 1884 when the university was reorganized into the private Tulane University of Louisiana. The university was transferred from state control and renamed in honor of benefactor Paul Tulane, a wealthy merchant who bequeathed more than $1 million to endow a university for the city where he had earned his fortune. Today, it is commonly referred to as Tulane University.
- In 1984, the then-University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) received permission from Tulane University to adopt the name "The University of Louisiana." USL applied to the then-Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities (now The University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors) for permission to change its name to "The University of Louisiana," and on April 27 of that year permission was granted. The Louisiana Board of Regents quickly filed suit with the Board of Trustees, and on May 22, District Judge William H. Brown stripped the university of the name, upon which it reverted to USL. Immediately thereafter, the state legislature removed from all of the boards of higher education their historical powers over names of buildings, colleges and universities, and the legislature reserved that right solely for itself.
Modern references
- In 1995 the Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities (est. 1974) was renamed to the University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors. The passage of legislative Act 45 concurrently created the new name University of Louisiana System for the system overseeing eight of Louisiana's public universities which are managed separately from colleges and universities in the other two state systems, the Louisiana State University System and the Southern University System. Act 45 further stipulated that no one school could change its name to "The University of Louisiana," that two would have to change their names simultaneously, and include additions to their names to differentiate them.
- In 1999 two public universities changed their names to each become a city-identified University of Louisiana:
- The University of Southwestern Louisiana (est. 1898) was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
- Northeast Louisiana University (est. 1931) was renamed University of Louisiana at Monroe.
- In line with its battle for the name in the 1980s, some at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette have continued to push for popular acceptance for the shorter "University of Louisiana" title. The university's name is commonly abbreviated to UL, as opposed to the ULM of its smaller sibling campus in Monroe. Its sports teams are officially termed "Louisiana's Ragin Cajuns." And its official web site is located at www.louisiana.edu.
Other references
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