My understanding is that the Regents made a decision that all campuses should be equal, and that all of them should be UC X. I think they are terribly wrong and that we are “THE University of California”. Sadly I suspect the other campuses still want to trade on our name.
As a Bay Area resident, I've always been puzzled by this dual branding that Cal/UC-Berkeley uses. I'm an alum of Cal/UC-Berkeley's Midwestern cousin (Michigan), and we don't have this concept of a separate identity and different branding for our athletics. I find it strange that these kinds of rules exist to begin with. What is the logic behind having two separate brands for the same university? Why not just get rid of the "Cal" brand and use the UC-Berkeley brand for athletics as well? Or perhaps just settle on "Berkeley"? The Berkeley name is known and respected the world over, so wouldn't it make sense to unify the branding around that?
People are free to call it whatever they want, but *Christ and the university* should fall in line and settle on CALIFORNIA whether its athletics or academics.
I completely agree with owning the Cal and California terms. But in 1868 when the school was established, it was the first and only public one in the state, if I'm not mistaken. So taking the name California and Cal for short was a natural. But in the over 150 years since then, the number of public schools bearing the California and Cal terms has grown to 33, not to mention private schools (e.g., Southern Cal, Cal Baptist, Cal Tech), and the dreaded Cali reference for the state from Spanish. Somewhere during that time, Berkeley had to be used or added to avoid confusion with one of the other entities. I'm from SoCal and graduated 40 years ago and the confusion has been ever-present from then to now. So while we can feel smug in continuing to just use Cal, I think it's only a inside-joke on us. Unless we find a way to connect the two --- Cal and Berkeley --- to the rest of the audience, I'm afraid the disassociation will continue to be a drag on both academics and athletics by not connecting the great history and prestige together.
The issue was ever bending the knee. Should have always been left as The University of California- the end. You don't see this issue with Michigan or Oregon or so many other schools because they branded academics and athletics together.
That point 2 is even a rule is shocking ludicrous. And getting policed by the university for daring to show athletic spirit is going to absolutely tank interest. Never knew such an asinine prohibition could exist!
I grew up in Berkeley, my dad was a professor; and my mom, sister and I were all UC graduates. This should be a non-issue. The branding is irrelevant to everything this university should stand for, academically and athletically. Ridiculaous!
Not a single student is gonna stop applying to Cal because we don't put 'Berkeley' in our name.
Make UCLA leave the UC system, they change their name, boom problem solved.
No
I hope they don’t just make us “Berkeley” but I have little hope given that they just rebranded the law school into “Berkeley Law”.
UC BerCaley
Cal! We are Cal.
"A recommendation could come early this winter."
Early this winter passed on January 20. We're now mid-winter. Late winter starts on February 19.
My understanding is that the Regents made a decision that all campuses should be equal, and that all of them should be UC X. I think they are terribly wrong and that we are “THE University of California”. Sadly I suspect the other campuses still want to trade on our name.
absolutely. The powers-that-be believe only in equality. Admission to Merced is just as good as admission to Berkeley. There is no flagship.
Let's have our friend Jello Biafra weigh in on this. Jello?
Jello: "CALIFORNIA über alles!
As a Bay Area resident, I've always been puzzled by this dual branding that Cal/UC-Berkeley uses. I'm an alum of Cal/UC-Berkeley's Midwestern cousin (Michigan), and we don't have this concept of a separate identity and different branding for our athletics. I find it strange that these kinds of rules exist to begin with. What is the logic behind having two separate brands for the same university? Why not just get rid of the "Cal" brand and use the UC-Berkeley brand for athletics as well? Or perhaps just settle on "Berkeley"? The Berkeley name is known and respected the world over, so wouldn't it make sense to unify the branding around that?
People are free to call it whatever they want, but *Christ and the university* should fall in line and settle on CALIFORNIA whether its athletics or academics.
CALIFORNIA
I completely agree with owning the Cal and California terms. But in 1868 when the school was established, it was the first and only public one in the state, if I'm not mistaken. So taking the name California and Cal for short was a natural. But in the over 150 years since then, the number of public schools bearing the California and Cal terms has grown to 33, not to mention private schools (e.g., Southern Cal, Cal Baptist, Cal Tech), and the dreaded Cali reference for the state from Spanish. Somewhere during that time, Berkeley had to be used or added to avoid confusion with one of the other entities. I'm from SoCal and graduated 40 years ago and the confusion has been ever-present from then to now. So while we can feel smug in continuing to just use Cal, I think it's only a inside-joke on us. Unless we find a way to connect the two --- Cal and Berkeley --- to the rest of the audience, I'm afraid the disassociation will continue to be a drag on both academics and athletics by not connecting the great history and prestige together.
The issue was ever bending the knee. Should have always been left as The University of California- the end. You don't see this issue with Michigan or Oregon or so many other schools because they branded academics and athletics together.
Golly, which of these is links is dumb enough to take someone to a world class AAU public university?
https://www.annarbor.edu/
https://www.austin.edu/ (my favorite!)
https://www.madison.edu/
https://www.charlottesville.edu/
https://www.chapelhill.edu/
https://www.iowacity.edu/
https://www.collegepark.edu/
https://www.eastlansing.edu/
https://www.bloomington.edu/
https://www.twincities.edu/
https://www.boulder.edu/
https://www.lawrence.edu/
https://www.gainesville.edu/
https://www.seattle.edu
https://www.newbrunswick.edu/
https://www.sandiego.edu/
https://irvine.edu/
https://www.santabarbara.edu/
https://www.losangeles.edu/
https://www.berkeley.edu/
That point 2 is even a rule is shocking ludicrous. And getting policed by the university for daring to show athletic spirit is going to absolutely tank interest. Never knew such an asinine prohibition could exist!
Hmmm, looks like the Regents make the naming rules. "All variations...are property of the UC Regents."
Go Bears! is trademarked. (who knew?)
https://bcbp.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/TrademarkGuidelinesAndRequirements0102207.pdf
California. California. California. California. California.
No...
California, California, Califooooornia! ;)
Here's my suggested combined letterhead and athletic logo:
University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) = California (Cal).
Optional: logos of script Cal, California, and Golden Bears and/or image. : )
I grew up in Berkeley, my dad was a professor; and my mom, sister and I were all UC graduates. This should be a non-issue. The branding is irrelevant to everything this university should stand for, academically and athletically. Ridiculaous!