How sad that over a half century and more of history has been jettisoned by a “rebranding exercise.” (“UW System rolls out new name for itself: Universities of Wisconsin,” Oct. 12).

The term “University of Wisconsin System” has served us well since the 1971 merger of the four campus (Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Parkside) UW System (so the name actually predates merger!) with the nine campus Wisconsin State University System, along with the then-14 two year campuses around the state.

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Has this been thought through? The marketing instructor from Northwestern University, whom the article quotes praising the rebrand, states that “calling them (the campuses) UW would increase the potential attractiveness….” We already do that! That’s why each campus’s name is preceded by “UW-.” What additional confusion will be engendered?

How will this new name distinguish the public institutions (universities OF Wisconsin) from the numerous other private universities in Wisconsin? What will the various institutions be called? “Parkside: A University of Wisconsin.”

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And this expenditure of $480,000 on a rebranding exercise occurs at a time when the UW System campuses are being starved of resources — cuts in the budget, raises for UW faculty and staff being held up by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos as blackmail to force elimination of equity and diversity efforts, and the university system itself has become a target of the Republican culture wars.

I expected better of UW System leaders.

Laura Gellott, Racine

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