The student body at Abilene Christian University voted in favor of a referendum to change the university’s name last Wednesday. Almost Christian University, as the school will be known this upcoming school year, was the name that was voted for by 67% of students.

John Douglas, junior marketing major, said he was all for the change as soon as he heard about it.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Douglas said. “It’s good to see that ACU is keeping up with the times.”

Similar name changes are also occurring at other Christian universities around the country. Some notable examples include;

Texas Christian University – Technically Christian University

Oklahoma Christian University – OK Christian University

Lubbock Christian University – Loosely Christian University

Baylor University – Bear-ly (Christian) University

Harding University – Hardly (Christian) University

The story of ACU changing its name originated in a routine Faculty Senate meeting this past February. After an unfortunate typo on the notes for the meeting was leaked to students, a buzz quickly spread about the new name.

Within a few days of the leak, a petition to change the name of the university began to float around campus. Over the course of that next week, more and more students began to support the change. The petition, which was signed by 1,906 students, was delivered to the Office of the President where the decision to hold a university-wide referendum was made.

Dr. Phil Schubert, the president of the university, released a written statement shortly after the referendum was held.

“With the widespread support from the student body, myself and members of the Faculty Senate felt obligated to take an official vote on the matter,” Schubert said. “We were honestly shocked by the turnout that we saw.”

Even outside of campus, this change had a lot of support. On Facebook, the ACU Open Forum immediately got behind idea to change the identity of the university, with users calling alumni and donors to second the change.

On top of this, in reference to several events on campus, Dr. Brad Harrub, writing from Tennessee, published a short essay entitled “Abilene Christian University: When “Christian” No Longer Means Christlike.” Schubert, in his statement, said the forum and other non-ACU voices heavily influenced the university’s course of action.

Kaylee Khan, director of Creative Services for Athletics, said this decision will have effects greater than just calling the university something different.

“With this change, similar to the change from Abilene Christian College, the actual images of the university will have to change,” Khan said. “Logos will need to be altered, new uniforms will have to be designed, and new trademarks will have to be filed. At least the ACU abbreviation is the same this time.”

On top of this, with this identity change now officially in motion, work has already begun to change signage around campus.

Students and faculty are now wondering what other changes could be coming to the university in the near future.