Retrospection: From The UHCLidian to The Signal
In the late 1970s, the UHCL newspaper took a sabbatical for a few semesters to gather its thoughts. It relaunched for its fourth volume Oct. 18, 1978. Above the ubiquitous name that would derive contention in later years was a small blurb by Lisa Ingram describing the origins of The UHCLidian’s name.
In the fall of 1975, student publications held a name-the-paper contest in order to find an appropriate name for the new campus newspaper. The winning name, UHCLidian, was submitted by Gene Goodhart, a graduate student at the time.
Goodhart explained that the name, a combination of UHCL and the Greek mathematician Euclid, was a homonym for Euclidian. The name refers to the first school of higher education founded in Alexandria some 2300 years ago. Since UHCL was the first university in the Bay Area, it seemed like a good fit. And, as Goodhart put it, “I decided it just had a good ring to it.”
And ring it did, for 32 years. But time has a way of changing words – language evolves, and connotations with words evolve with it. The 1970s may have been a great time to toss around the Greek, but the 2000s less so.
On April 16, 2007, that ringing came to a head when the editors of the UHCLidian launched a school-wide survey asking: “What was your first impression when you heard the name UHCLIDIAN, the name of the school’s newspaper?”
Students were brutally honest, saying the name sounded like “chlamydia,” “clitoris,” some sort of disease or the phrase, “YOU IDIOT!”
Poor Euclid never stood a chance in the 21st century. Even after an explanation for the homonym was added to the front page of every issue of The UHCLidian, students and staff were still turned off by it as the years went on.
Certainly, chlamydia and clitorises have been around since the 1970s, but word association and connotation naturally shift over time. Plus, introducing The UHCLidian over the phone more often than not begged questions from the receiving end as to the kind of reporter calling. The name was a distraction – eye-catching but troublesome – and needed to reflect the next stage in student publications and the student body it represented. UHCL in the 1970s was exclusively graduate, local, experimental and had a generally older student body. Today’s UHCL is broader, younger, online and international.
Eleven years ago, the UHCL student-run newspaper changed its name from The UHCLidian to The Signal, marking a new era in student publications, UHCL journalism, and how the student body gets its news. Students were surveyed as to what the new name should be, and why the change was necessary.
The final options for the new name of the newspaper were: The Advocate, The Scribe and Signals. At the end of a heated staff debate, the editors picked the latter of the three, dropping the “s” and adding “The” for clarity and emphasis.
“The Signal is a name built to stand the test of time and conform to the new age of technology we live and perform,” wrote Neesha Hosein, editor of the paper.
“The new name is representative of an age of change and advancement, and that is what the name change was all about,” Hosein wrote.
Lindsay Humphrey, manager of student publications, was the production assistant at the time of the name change.
“It was difficult getting your foot in the door for certain interviews with that name,” Humphrey said. “But I will say this: it taught me that no matter what publication you’re working for, you call up like you’re a reporter for The New York Times. It gave me the confidence to get those interviews.”
Issues with the name of the paper began shortly after The UHCLidian grew from a campus newsletter to a source of local journalism, and it only increased as the paper garnered a national and international audience.
Taleen Washington, lecturer in communication and director of student publications, recalled the process and reasons for the change.
“The students from my first day of teaching asked me, ‘Why can’t we change the name?’” Washington said. “Having a newspaper that sounds like a venereal disease does not make a reporter’s job any easier.”
It took Washington five years to feel like she had the clout and the students to change the name of the paper, a process that was not nearly as simple as holding a survey and asking the UHCL community for suggestions.
Not only did Washington and her staff need to approach the powers that be to begin the process, they had to get the entire student body on board with the change.
“We had to go to SGA (Student Government Association) and get SGA on board with it,” Washington said. “We had to go to the faculty senate and get the faculty on board with it. And then we took that information to the administration and at that point, they asked, ‘What are you going to change it to?’”
Washington spent five years gathering the best staff and alumni who would see the process of changing the name through to the end. Eleven years ago, students were only on staff at the paper for a semester in the Media Production course. This quick turnaround meant gathering staff that would stick around and fight for the name change well after their time at the paper was done. The entire process to change the name took a year.
“We had a lot of resistance from faculty and staff,” Washington said. “UHCL has very few traditions, and The UHCLidian was the official masthead for more than 30 years.”
On April 30, 2007, a newspaper was reborn. Like a paper and ink phoenix rising from the ashes, it shook off its past to embrace the future.
“The Signal is a student forum, and it’s here to provide a voice for the students, so it makes sense that the students should have a say in it,” Washington said.
Indeed, The Signal, no matter what name it has gone by or will go by in the future, is a voice for the students and their lives. Its stories are what impact us, and we are privileged to write them for as long as we’re able.
Also published on Medium.
