College of Idaho |
The private College of Idaho at Caldwell, founded in 1881, achieved some renown over the years as a liberal arts institution, helped along to a considerable degree by substantial donations from an alum, supermarket founder Joe Albertson (and his wife Kathryn). He gave those gifts quietly, usually anonymously, partly because he was not a man who insisted on public applause for every good thing he did, but maybe also for some cannier reasons, too.
In 1991 the institution's name was changed, to the Albertson College of Idaho. Quite a few people - we were among them - disliked the change. Not, certainly, because of anything against Albertson, who really had helped the college and may have forestalled closure once or twice. Rather, because it just sounded tacky. It sounded as if the college was another department in a supermarket. It had a crass we're-for-sale feel to it. And because we were convinced that if Albertson were still alive - he had died a few years before - he would have vetoed the idea. Sharply.
Today, college President Bob Hoover said the college is changing its name again - back to College of Idaho.
It stems partly from the corporate selloff of the Albertson's company to Supervalu; but that sounds like the lesser part of it. It follows on the heels of another Albertsons donation - this one $50 million from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, one of the largest private college donations ever; there's certainly no Albertson repudiation here.
Instead, as the Idaho Press Tribune described the rationale: "The decision was made partly because some College of Idaho alumni didn’t feel connected to the school after the name change, officials said, and partly because some people believed the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation was fully supporting the college. That made it difficult to raise money, officials said."
And this: "The private school has long been the subject of jokes referring to its shared name with a grocery store, including zingers such as, 'What’s your degree in — paper, or plastic?' . . . Current students and alumni cheered when Hoover announced the name change. 'I think it will put us a little higher in the college rankings, because it just sounds more prestigous,' said Joelle Cote, a 20-year-old junior majoring in health sciences and nursing at the school."
Joe Albertson was a shrewd guy. He may have understood all this long ago.