Michigan State University

The Café previously looked at the origins of the Wolverine name for both the State of Michigan and the University of Michigan. In the interests of fairness and balance, the Café traces the origins of the Spartan nickname for Michigan State University.

The Spartan name originates with a stubborn Lansing sports editor in the 1920s. Prior to then, the college’s sports teams were known as Aggies.

In 1925, Michigan Agricultural College became Michigan State College of Agricultural and Applied Science. Most people, though, referred to the school thereafter as Michigan State College. With the name change, the college sponsored a contest to replace Aggies.

The winning entry: The Michigan Staters.

Lansing State Journal sports editor George Alderton didn’t like the new name. He looked through the contest entries and found Spartans as the most attractive (it being entered by contestant Stephen George Scofes). In writing an account of a college baseball game in 1926, Alderton referred to the team as Spartans. He repeated the reference in subsequent articles and eventually inserted the name into headlines. Rival newspapers, and even the student newspaper, likewise began using the name.

It wasn’t too long before the name became generally accepted. I don’t know why people took to the name Spartans, since ancient Greek warriors aren’t indigenous to the region and aren’t particularly associated with Michigan.

Incidentally, Alderton originally spelled the name as Spartons. After a few days of misspellings, the newspaper was corrected.

MSU’s OTHER NAMES

M.S.U. has undergone a few name changes over the decades. Here’s the chronology.

Agricultural College of the State of Michigan – This was the name by which the 1855 legislation referred to the new college.

State Agricultural College – The name was changed in the reorganization of the college in 1861.

Michigan Agricultural College – By 1909 there were many agricultural colleges in the U.S. To avoid confusion, the name was changed to M.A.C.

Michigan State College of Agricultural and Applied Sciences – In 1925, M.A.C. wanted to remove the word agricultural from its name, but the University of Michigan opposed the name change. This name was created as a compromise, but M.S.C. rarely used the Agricultural and Applied Science part of its name.

Michigan State University of Agricultural and Applied Science – On its 100th anniversary in 1955, M.S.C. became a university, but still wasn’t allowed to remove agricultural from its name.

Michigan State University – With the Michigan Constitution of 1964, M.S.U. finally dropped the words Agricultural and Applied Science from its name.