The website for the feedback is ‘haveyoursay@csu.com’. There is also a petition on the website.

To have the meetings planned for January when most people are on holidays was very sneaky and I am led to believe the information given out to newspapers was very low key advising of the fact that the University was looking at the possibility of changing the name because of a very weak excuse that in going ahead to be dynamic in its own right without any confusion it might get mixed up with Southern Cross University whose acronym is similar ‘SCU’ and a University in Chicago.

This has not been a problem in the past and won’t be in the future if the ‘powers that be’ don’t let it. You are marketing a university not an acronym!

At no stage was it ever advertised that the change of name was going to cost 7.5 million dollars! Why? Nor was much said re strategy which included the possible renaming of the University. The dates and times of the consultation meetings was not advertised nor the venues. It was only by phone calls etc that this information was ascertained.

There was no publicity that there is a petition on the website. This decision is momentous and should not even be confined to a timeframe of July so the renaming and new name can be advised at these celebrations of the 30 years of Charles Sturt University.

The new name being touted is ‘Sturt University’. By removing ‘Charles’ is not going to make it more marketable. Charles Sturt University has achieved a lot in the thirty years in growth of campuses and student intakes.

It is known Australia-wide as a University of high standing and is well known in Asian countries as well as other countries. To add to the shame of how this is being handled is that not a lot of lecturing staff knew anything or about it until January in some cases and other areas were told not to talk about it!

The ‘high standing’ is reflected in the fact that there have been staff that have had Australia-wide recognition for their work and also courses.

The name has meaning and is connected to the explorer Charles Sturt who explored the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and on the web ‘which is considered as one of the greatest explorations in Australian History’ and was chosen because the initial campuses were on these rivers.

Please do something by Wednesday or we can possibly be in for a name change!

Ronda Lampe

Wagga