When I was looking to apply to Santa Clara University, my mom would always refer to it as “The University of Santa Clara” or “USC.” No matter how many times I insisted it was “SCU” or “Santa Clara University,” she always refuted that it used to be called USC. I didn’t realize until looking at a document in the Archives on the name change of the University that my mom’s confidence in the former name of the University was completely factual.
Three of my uncles attended this University, all graduating before this name change occurred (so, it makes sense as to why my mom and I thought the University had two different names). A committee for University communications was formed in 1983, and their main prerogative was to establish a singular name for the University that wouldn’t be confused with other institutions. In addition to its original name Santa Clara College, known as SCC for short, SCU had formerly been referred to as University of Santa Clara, USC, Santa Clara University, SCU, and Santa Clara, or SC. This caused confusion with other schools in California, as well as led many to think that our school was part of the public school system instead of it being a private institution.
It wasn’t an easy change: many members on the committee wanted it, but many alumni and older faculty argued against the disruption of tradition. The opposition argued that Santa Clara University sounded less prestigious, but in the end, Father President Rewak, S.J. sent a letter to the Board of Trustees on May 1st of 1985 to give his approval of the name change. A vote of the Board of Trustees happened on the 15th of May, just two weeks later, and the name change to Santa Clara University passed with an 11-6 voting outcome.
While my mom based her knowledge on personal experience and I based my knowledge on the promotional materials I had received when considering SCU for college, the information contained in this post comes from the archival holdings in the department of Archives & Special Collections. Using the presidential papers of Father Rewak, S.J., a student research assistant a few years ago wrote an extensive history.
SCU Names Timeline:
1851-1912: Santa Clara College
1912-1985: University of Santa Clara
1985-present: Santa Clara University
Header image: University of Santa Clara 1979 Alumni Key Ring from the SCU Artifact Collection, Series 4, Box 2.
Interesting. I attended the university when it was called the University of Santa Clara or USC. When the name was changed I heard that it was because of a dispute with the University of Southern California (USC) who claimed a trademark on the USC designation. We claimed ownership because we were the older university. Any truth to the story?
Hi Mike, good question. There is something to be said for first hand knowledge from someone who was here at the time! I have heard of the USC dispute several times but have not personally been able to verify the claim. We’ll have to put in this research queue and make another blog post with what we find from the archives. Do you remember who spread that explanation, or if it came from an office of the university?
I have no recollection as to the source of the story. I do recall that an old photograph of a banner bearing “University of Santa Clara” and dated earlier than the founding date of the University of Southern California was used to prove our claim. I also remember that money was allegedly involved in forsaking our claim.
Beyond that I have to claim a fuzzy memory.
Haha, well thanks for the extra info!