What’s In A Name?: Constantine College at University of York

By Morenike Adebayo

8 thoughts on “What’s In A Name?: Constantine College at University of York”

  1. I’m sorry but “Inappropriate to name a college after a military dictator”, are you serious? I’m all for calling a spade a spade but have we really fallen become so self assured and judgemental that this is considered appropriate? This is an insulting description of an ancient and sophisticated society that demeans the legitimate term “military dictator” which has very real modern day meanings. I suppose for the same reasons we should damn Vanbrugh (architect to military butcher the Duke of Marlborough), Alcuin (ecclesiastical advisor to tyrannical warlord Charlemagne) and Wentworth (accomplice of the suppressor of political liberties Charles I). Grow up Vision.

  2. Yarburgh comes from the Yarburgh family who used to inhabit Heslington Hall, not from a village in Lincolnshire.

  3. Angry Historian: Vanbrugh didn’t pass draconian laws punishing rape victims; he wrote plays which were ahead of their time in their representation of women, and, for that reason, had difficulty getting them performed. Alcuin was a scholar and teacher who, again, showed a degree of enlightenment ahead of his time. Wentworth wrote a noble letter to his mentor and friend Charles forgiving him for signing his death warrant the night before it was carried out. (You have to admit there’s something noble in that.) None of them, as far as I know, was a murderer. (Constantine murdered his wife and son.) Also none of these names are (unlike that of Constantine) inappropriate in the representation of a supposedly secular university: Naming a college after Constantine is going to make people in other countries think we are a religious institution. And before you mention his “Edict of Toleration” look at the record of Constantine’s persecution of pagans.

  4. If it wasn’t clear to you I was being deliberately facetious and in no way suggesting that other college namesakes were inappropriate. My issue was in terming Constantine a “military dictator” which is not consistent with use of the term no matter what you think of his track record as a man.

  6. so if there’s no reasons ‘for’ the logo why is YOUR poll showing almost a thrid of people ‘for’ the logo

    Also just WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS

  7. Can we do a poll regarding the Vision Logo too. Nothing screams tacky like a bit of WordArt

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