This Ain't Chopped Liver
Active Member
If “Texas Disciple University“ and TDU, then the Horned Frogs could have been TouchDown U.
Good job by The Athletic, of all places, to write a good lengthy article in 2017 about the rebranding to TCU.
In spring 2013, an atheist and agnostic group, the “Freethinking Frogs,” applied to become an official on-campus student organization. TCU officially recognized the Freethinking Frogs, and the backlash was swift. “I thought TCU was a Christian-based university,” alumnus Larry Morton wrote to The TCU Magazine. “The second word in TCU is still ‘Christian’ I do believe. The sad truth is that most schools of higher learning have caved to the secular model of ‘fairness’ and ‘relativism.’ ”
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A TCU spokesperson told the network that the university “should not be considered a solely Christian school,” and a TCU minister, Angela Kaufman, agreed, saying TCU should be seen as “a reflection of the larger society around us.” ….
“Most of those people (who were outraged) have probably never, ever, step foot on campus,” Lahutsky said. “But because the word ‘Christian’ is in our name, they feel invested in who we are and what we do. People imbued something to the place because of the word.”
To Lahutsky, the association based solely on the word “Christian” displays a fundamental misunderstanding of TCU’s history. Members of the Disciples of Christ had considered “Disciple” as a middle word in the school’s name, Lahutsky said. “If we had named this place Texas Disciple University, no one would care at all (about the university’s relationship with Christianity),” she added.
The Disciples of Christ, Lahutsky said, have always stood for “open-mindedness.”
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“(The rebrand) represents part of a transition in American culture,” she said, because a lot of religious communities have lost the moral authority for one reason or another. This shift is bigger than a name change at TCU.
Added Kunkel: “Universities cutting some (religious) ties are basically them just updating their brand. (It’s) making their brand more acceptable to a 21st-century audience.”
Good job by The Athletic, of all places, to write a good lengthy article in 2017 about the rebranding to TCU.
What’s in a name? For TCU, a shrinking connection to its religious roots
By Sam Fortier In the television ads that Texas Christian runs during games, including the ones that will run during this weekend’s Big 12 Championship game, the school never calls itself “Texas Christian.” There are aerial panoramas of the school’s Fort Worth campus and clips of athletic...
theathletic.com
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A TCU spokesperson told the network that the university “should not be considered a solely Christian school,” and a TCU minister, Angela Kaufman, agreed, saying TCU should be seen as “a reflection of the larger society around us.” ….
“Most of those people (who were outraged) have probably never, ever, step foot on campus,” Lahutsky said. “But because the word ‘Christian’ is in our name, they feel invested in who we are and what we do. People imbued something to the place because of the word.”
To Lahutsky, the association based solely on the word “Christian” displays a fundamental misunderstanding of TCU’s history. Members of the Disciples of Christ had considered “Disciple” as a middle word in the school’s name, Lahutsky said. “If we had named this place Texas Disciple University, no one would care at all (about the university’s relationship with Christianity),” she added.
The Disciples of Christ, Lahutsky said, have always stood for “open-mindedness.”
….
“(The rebrand) represents part of a transition in American culture,” she said, because a lot of religious communities have lost the moral authority for one reason or another. This shift is bigger than a name change at TCU.
Added Kunkel: “Universities cutting some (religious) ties are basically them just updating their brand. (It’s) making their brand more acceptable to a 21st-century audience.”
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