SGA drive to end ÎThe Metâ heats up

1,300 students sign petition to repeal Metroâs nickname

By Perry Swanson
The Metropolitan

Metroâs Student Government Assembly has gathered about 1,300 petition signatures calling for an end to the use of Metroâs nickname, ãThe Met.ä

The petition demands that Metro administrators stop calling the college ãThe Metä and remove the moniker from advertisements, stationery and other promotional materials.

A group of students headed by Sean Brailey, SGA vice president of Administration and Finance, have taken the petition all over campus and have asked professors to allow them into their classrooms to talk about the petitions. No professor has agreed to let them do that so far.

Brailey said the group will submit the petition to Metro President Sheila Kaplan within the next two weeks with a demand that the college stop using the nickname.

ãThe Metä, thatâs a little too â90s for me,ä said Metro student Anna Carr after she signed the petition Sept. 2. ãI mean I already feel like Iâm going to McCollege as it is.ä

If the college doesnât comply within a week of the request, Brailey and other SGA members have said they will organize other activities such as marches and rallies to get administratorsâ attention.

Criticism for the nickname has centered on its corporate feel and its resemblance to widely known nicknames of  public institutions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Opera in New York are often referred to as ãThe Met.ä A life insurance company also uses a version of the name.

SGA members also complained that the administration left them out of meetings where ãThe Metä idea was developed as part of a college-marketing campaign.

Metro spokeswoman Debbie Thomas disputes that claim, saying that the representatives were invited, but they did not attend.

So far, the administrationâs response to the petition has been minimal.

Kaplan said she knows about the petition but didnât say what she would do about it because the SGA hasnât approached her directly. Thomas said students donât have to like the nickname.

ãIf you donât like it, donât use it,ä Thomas said.