Name change for Victoria University is costly legacy-building

31 JULY 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union endorses the campaign to ‘Stick With Vic’ and abandon an expensive name change for Victoria University of Wellington.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman (and Victoria alumnus) Louis Houlbrooke says, “It would be very foolish for our respected universities to join the bureaucratic obsession with costly and tokenistic rebrands.”

“The University Council’s draft decision estimates the cost of the name change at $962,000 – most of which will come from taxpayers. The cost figure looks overly optimistic – once more graduates learn of the proposal and the university is forced to engage in more spin, expenses will increase.”

“This is expensive, taxpayer-funded legacy-building from the Vice Chancellor. There appears to be no real public demand for such a change. In fact, many Victoria graduates are concerned that a name change will diminish or confuse the value of their qualifications.”

Taxpayers’ Union Chairman, Barrie Saunders, has written his own submission against the name change which can be read here.

We encourage Victoria graduates and taxpayers in general to sign this petition against the proposed name change, which has already received over 1,000 signatures. Additionally, views can be emailed to feedback@vuw.ac.nz.

ENDS

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