I’ve got no problem with the merger… but the name New Hampshire School of Law would be a serious mistake. It sounds too much like New England School of Law.
UNH School of Law is fine. If we are concerned about losing the goodwill associated with the name [Franklin] Pierce, we can easily keep that as well — e.g. The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, or something like that. There are many exemplars for having a name like that, of which the following are all Tier 1 schools:
The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School
University of California Hastings College of the Law
University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
I am not opposed to a name change, nor merging with UNH. However, I think moving the campus to Durham, NH would be a mistake. I think a major issue to be considered is the extremely limited housing available at UNH, in Durham, NH. As a recent graduate from UNH, I experienced the extreme overcrowding of the campus and inflated prices in rent for off campus housing. UNH itself is having trouble providing housing to its enrolled students and therefore rent for off campus housing has also increased. Another point to consider is the outrageous parking regulations and restrictions of the campus. I also think it would be a major detriment to student life being on the campus of such a big school and the existing close knit community of law students would be lost. A decision to move the campus to Durham, NH would have negatively impacted my decision to attend Pierce.
I am an Engineer, I came to PierceLaw exclusively for their IP program. I moved from the west, when people would ask me what law school I was going to and I would say PierceLaw, people would say where is that? This summer I did a lot of traveling, museums and other attractions usually give student discounts, any time I would show my student card to get a student discount (outside of Concord) people would say, where is that? (this happened even in Manchester N.H.)
The name “Franklin Pierce Law Center” is recognized ONLY in the IP world, I think simply changing the school name is not a bad idea, but merging with UNH is clearly the best option. I say this because “University” in and of itself carries a lot more weight and credibility than “College” and/or “Law Center”
If the merger did go through, the name of the school should be: “The University of New Hampshire School of Law”, leaving the word “University” out of the new name defeats the purpose of merging and name changing.
The school could still retain the Piercelaw name brand recognition, but either naming its IP program: “The Franklin Pierce Intellectual Property Law Center” or like Hal above noted we could just call the school:
“The University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce School of Law”
I came all the way out to New Hampshire to attend one of the consistently top ranked IP Programs in the nation, the one and only “Franklin Pierce” known in some old school circles as just “Franks”. I think a lot of IP students and alum would hate to loose the clout that hangs on the name of our school. Many students may also feel that there is a substantial benefit from a merger with UNH and with a name change (ditching the awkward Law Center designation) to boost recognition outside the IP World. So here is a crazy idea (as noted by many others) lets do both. Keep Franklin Pierce, change the name of the school, and Merge with UNH. University of New Hampshire, Frankin Pierce School of Law.
Does anyone think that a name that combines Franklin Pierce with University of New Hampshire is a bad idea?
Does anyone actually think moving our campus to Durham is a good idea in any way shape or form?
I really hope the students of this school take the time to consider the positive benefits of merging this school with UNH. Outside of the bias in keeping the current name for IP purposes, a merge with UNH would be an enormous opportunity to further expose this institution on a national level.
UNH is a “Land/Sea/Space/Sun Grant” school with standing agreements with a variety of European schools (including, I believe, Utrecht Law) and highly esteemed programs in marine/bio-estuary sciences, life sciences/agriculture, engineering and now, business too.
Joint degree programs? MBA/MPA/MPH; Science and Engineering, can only expand the breadth, reach and contribution of future Pierce Law Graduates.
There is no need to drop the name Pierce Law Center.
Use both names. (Hopefully in a way less awkward than “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”!)
This is simply a marketing /branding/logo/font “thang” –
“University of New Hampshire College of Law” would appear in much larger typeface on materials geared to Non-IP audiences alongside the smaller “Franklin Pierce Law Center”. Vice-versa for materials geared to Int’l or IP audiences. “Pierce Law” would be the wordmark of the IP and Master’s programs. Retain our good will w/ Alum’s and China.
Two brand names CAN occupy the same space with ease:
“Chevy Corvette”
“University of New Hampshire College of Law” is nice because 1) it prevents confusion with NESL, OR FPU, OR SNHU, and 2) it provides an instantly recognizable sense of place – like, “Boston Red Sox”- Something the name “FPLC” currently does NOT do…
I feel sad for the student who perhaps wishes to hang out a shingle and practice in Landaff, NH, but then maybe has to relocate for family reasons – trying to explain to a hiring manager of the Monroe County Florida Pub. Def. Office who/what a “FPLC” is. 3) Oxford University has 38 Colleges – I do recognize the English system is totally different (God Bless America!), but it does reinforce the traditional notion of being a semi-autonomous subset of a University.
I’d like to waltz into the bookstore and see “PIERCE LAW’ and “UNH College of Law” merch side by side.
I’m unconcerned what it would say on the diploma – use both names – that’s merely a creative & graphic design challenge. We could task Alyson Fava. She could do it!
Move to Durham? Please no.
Parking would be problematic, and UNH wouldn’t build you a better facility than ours.
Staying in Concord would preserve a measure of autonomy and flexibility for us.
We’re 40 minutes from UNH, so is UNH Manchester (…and they’re expanding their sci and eng programs too). Concord is a logical and natural fit for a law school.
Many UNH Durham faculty travel to Manchester to teach, they could easily travel to Concord.
Wildcats Hockey usually have a few “home” games at the Verizon Center also.
I’ve got no problem with the merger… but the name New Hampshire School of Law would be a serious mistake. It sounds too much like New England School of Law.
UNH School of Law is fine. If we are concerned about losing the goodwill associated with the name [Franklin] Pierce, we can easily keep that as well — e.g. The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, or something like that. There are many exemplars for having a name like that, of which the following are all Tier 1 schools:
The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School
University of California Hastings College of the Law
University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Hal
I am not opposed to a name change, nor merging with UNH. However, I think moving the campus to Durham, NH would be a mistake. I think a major issue to be considered is the extremely limited housing available at UNH, in Durham, NH. As a recent graduate from UNH, I experienced the extreme overcrowding of the campus and inflated prices in rent for off campus housing. UNH itself is having trouble providing housing to its enrolled students and therefore rent for off campus housing has also increased. Another point to consider is the outrageous parking regulations and restrictions of the campus. I also think it would be a major detriment to student life being on the campus of such a big school and the existing close knit community of law students would be lost. A decision to move the campus to Durham, NH would have negatively impacted my decision to attend Pierce.
I am an Engineer, I came to PierceLaw exclusively for their IP program. I moved from the west, when people would ask me what law school I was going to and I would say PierceLaw, people would say where is that? This summer I did a lot of traveling, museums and other attractions usually give student discounts, any time I would show my student card to get a student discount (outside of Concord) people would say, where is that? (this happened even in Manchester N.H.)
The name “Franklin Pierce Law Center” is recognized ONLY in the IP world, I think simply changing the school name is not a bad idea, but merging with UNH is clearly the best option. I say this because “University” in and of itself carries a lot more weight and credibility than “College” and/or “Law Center”
If the merger did go through, the name of the school should be: “The University of New Hampshire School of Law”, leaving the word “University” out of the new name defeats the purpose of merging and name changing.
The school could still retain the Piercelaw name brand recognition, but either naming its IP program: “The Franklin Pierce Intellectual Property Law Center” or like Hal above noted we could just call the school:
“The University of New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce School of Law”
I came all the way out to New Hampshire to attend one of the consistently top ranked IP Programs in the nation, the one and only “Franklin Pierce” known in some old school circles as just “Franks”. I think a lot of IP students and alum would hate to loose the clout that hangs on the name of our school. Many students may also feel that there is a substantial benefit from a merger with UNH and with a name change (ditching the awkward Law Center designation) to boost recognition outside the IP World. So here is a crazy idea (as noted by many others) lets do both. Keep Franklin Pierce, change the name of the school, and Merge with UNH. University of New Hampshire, Frankin Pierce School of Law.
Does anyone think that a name that combines Franklin Pierce with University of New Hampshire is a bad idea?
Does anyone actually think moving our campus to Durham is a good idea in any way shape or form?
I really hope the students of this school take the time to consider the positive benefits of merging this school with UNH. Outside of the bias in keeping the current name for IP purposes, a merge with UNH would be an enormous opportunity to further expose this institution on a national level.
I second the motions of Hal and Quinn.
UNH is a “Land/Sea/Space/Sun Grant” school with standing agreements with a variety of European schools (including, I believe, Utrecht Law) and highly esteemed programs in marine/bio-estuary sciences, life sciences/agriculture, engineering and now, business too.
Joint degree programs? MBA/MPA/MPH; Science and Engineering, can only expand the breadth, reach and contribution of future Pierce Law Graduates.
There is no need to drop the name Pierce Law Center.
Use both names. (Hopefully in a way less awkward than “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”!)
This is simply a marketing /branding/logo/font “thang” –
“University of New Hampshire College of Law” would appear in much larger typeface on materials geared to Non-IP audiences alongside the smaller “Franklin Pierce Law Center”. Vice-versa for materials geared to Int’l or IP audiences. “Pierce Law” would be the wordmark of the IP and Master’s programs. Retain our good will w/ Alum’s and China.
Two brand names CAN occupy the same space with ease:
“Chevy Corvette”
“University of New Hampshire College of Law” is nice because 1) it prevents confusion with NESL, OR FPU, OR SNHU, and 2) it provides an instantly recognizable sense of place – like, “Boston Red Sox”- Something the name “FPLC” currently does NOT do…
I feel sad for the student who perhaps wishes to hang out a shingle and practice in Landaff, NH, but then maybe has to relocate for family reasons – trying to explain to a hiring manager of the Monroe County Florida Pub. Def. Office who/what a “FPLC” is. 3) Oxford University has 38 Colleges – I do recognize the English system is totally different (God Bless America!), but it does reinforce the traditional notion of being a semi-autonomous subset of a University.
I’d like to waltz into the bookstore and see “PIERCE LAW’ and “UNH College of Law” merch side by side.
I’m unconcerned what it would say on the diploma – use both names – that’s merely a creative & graphic design challenge. We could task Alyson Fava. She could do it!
Move to Durham? Please no.
Parking would be problematic, and UNH wouldn’t build you a better facility than ours.
Staying in Concord would preserve a measure of autonomy and flexibility for us.
We’re 40 minutes from UNH, so is UNH Manchester (…and they’re expanding their sci and eng programs too). Concord is a logical and natural fit for a law school.
Many UNH Durham faculty travel to Manchester to teach, they could easily travel to Concord.
Wildcats Hockey usually have a few “home” games at the Verizon Center also.