What's in a name? If things had gone a little differently 32 years ago, we would all be celebrating Founders' Day here at Southwestern State University instead of Wright State University.
When it opened its doors in 1964, our university was known as the Dayton branch campus of the Miami and Ohio State Universities. By the next year, a plan was afoot in the Ohio legislature to turn the branch campus into Wright Brothers University, a four-year institution that would join the ranks of Ohio's seven other state Universities.
The Wright Brothers University name was scuttled in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1965 when the representative from Springfield, Charles E. Fry, successfully added an amendment to the bill creating the new university, changing the name to Southwestern State University. The Senate disagreed, and a conference committee settled the matter by proposing the name Wright State University, a name both houses agreed upon.
Senate Bill 212 passed in 1967 actually created the new university, which was officially chartered Wright State University on Oct. 1, 1967.
by Cindy Young
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Wright State University
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