‘ Would you live in a place called International Village?
Are you an international student?
The pairing of these questions seems natural. When students ‘- particularly those unfamiliar with Northeastern and its current affairs ‘- hear the name of a residence hall with the word ‘international’ in it, they are likely to automatically think it is a residence hall for international students.
And if the name is one in a long list of unfamiliar buildings ‘- Stetson East, Stetson West, Kerr Hall, Kennedy Hall, White Hall, Light Hall ‘- then non-international students are even more likely to disregard it.
What’s more, the people who are most likely to be unfamiliar with Northeastern and its current affairs are the same people the university is trying to attract:’ smart new students ‘- whether they be transfer or freshman honor students ‘- to live in shiny new residence halls.
And so with the naming of International Village, the newly built residence hall formerly referred to as Parcel 18, Northeastern officials missed an opportunity to be creative marketers. For a monstrously big and state-of-the-art building whose opening has been so highly anticipated, the naming landed with a thud. It was a very quiet thud, too, as university officials silently toiled on a name before deciding over the past few months, when it slowly leaked to student leaders.
To quote ‘The Dark Night,’ why so serious, Northeastern? The university could have done something clever with the name while still getting across its international mantra ‘- one that President Joseph Aoun has been pushing for years, most recently at the university’s Commencement ceremony May 5 and previously at annual appearances in Fort Myers, Fla., for the baseball team’s exhibition games against the Boston Red Sox.
While it is still expensive to study abroad via Northeastern, President Aoun’s message is nevertheless worthy:’ Explore the world and make it your classroom. Go international.
And true, the residence hall will also incorporate many intriguing international themes, including international cuisine in its dining halls and international artwork in its lobbies. Even the TV stations showing in the building’s dining hall will be international.
But do we really need to put a buzz word on the side of our newest and nicest building? Probably not.
Will the missed chance deeply hurt or damage the university? No. It is unlikely that the university will ever struggle to fill all of Parcel 18’s ‘- er, International Village’s 1,200 beds, or that a boring name will deter the world’s bright young minds from taking a second look at that fast-rising co-operative education school in Boston.
But that’s exactly what we are:’ a fast-rising university that is on the cutting edge of higher education, and our campus should reflect that. Choosing the name International Village was an apparently easy way to advertise Northeastern’s evolving values, but it missed the mark.
Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mike Armini said the university would rename the building after a charitable donor, if somebody came along.
One can only hope.