Cincinnati Christian University has now been in existence for almost a year. Or more precisely, CCU has been called CCU for almost a year. What can be said about the success of the name change as we approach its first anniversary?
For the most part, it's done what we hoped. Our profile has already been raised, and we note a greater number of prospective students recognizing the full range of educational options that we offer. Negative response has been slim to none. One college president did run a piece in his college's PR publication pointing out that while others had become "Christian universities" his place was still a "classic Bible college" (like a place where all undergraduates major in Bible and the only graduate school is a seminary is somehow not a "classic" Bible college). But no one here can name any tangible negative response.
But there are still signs that we remain a stepchild of the higher education family. Today's Cincinnati Enquirer ran a table of starting dates for local colleges along with an article on the latest US News university rankings (link does not include the table, which seems to be in the print edition only). The starting-date table included UC, Miami, XU, MSJ, NKU and Thomas More. Not CCU.
In part this may be a function of our not sending out press releases at the crucial time. More likely, the reporter simply followed the template of the previous year's coverage, as did the previous reporter, and so on. Either way, CCU is not there. It's like we don't count as a real part of the university family. We're the stepchild, locked in a bedroom like Harry Potter at the Dursleys'.
It will take awhile yet to overcome the perception that we're not a real institution of higher learning. And it will take some work, too. Like sending out those press releases, with a hook in the story that sets us apart.
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