Buzzards Bay, MA --- The start of the 2010-11 academic year has
brought both excitement and change to the MASCAC, as the conference
officially announced earlier this week it will change the word
“College” to “Collegiate” in its acronym.
The eight-member league will celebrate its 40th anniversary
and begin its fifth decade of excellence by becoming the
Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, effective
immediately.
In making the announcement earlier today, MASCAC Commissioner
Angela Baumann stated that “our conference
is proud to reflect the excitement and enhanced overall reputation
that our member institutions will now enjoy as universities.
Though today we are changing part of our conference name, the
commitment to overall success, both academically and athletically,
that our member schools strive for remains as strong as ever, and
today we celebrate both our storied past and our rich tradition as
a league.”
The MASCAC’s name change resulted from a law enacted by
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick last week that changed the
name of six member institutions (Bridgewater State, Fitchburg
State, Framingham State, Salem State, Westfield State and Worcester
State) from College to University, effective October 26th. In
anticipation of the new university status, Baumann and
administrators from three MASCAC institutions held on-going
discussions on a possible name change for the conference, and the
decision was made to substitute the word “Collegiate”
for “College” to mirror the identity of the NCAA, which
stands for National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Though the six member institutions will not officially becoming
universities until late October, Baumann said that the MASCAC name
change will take place immediately. The law signed last week
by Governor Patrick does not affect the other two members of the
conference, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the
Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
The MASCAC’s change in identity begins what will be a
year-long celebration of the conference’s 40th anniversary,
which will kick off formally later this month.
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