Since when does a private institution get to have a say over a public institution?

DU is so concerned about its brand. It’s time for us to be concerned about Metro’s brand.

We have the opportunity to strengthen our degrees and we have a neighboring university telling us that they have a problem with how we’re doing it.

This bullying by DU is insulting and demeaning. Our administration has cowered. Metro’s Board of Trustees have shown no backbone by even considering DU’s input throughout this process. Thanks for making us look like wimps.

Does our administration have our best interests at heart or DU’s?

DU is worried about “brand confusion?” Sorry DU, you’ve had, as you said, 148 years to establish your brand. If an institution is worried about a name change affecting that, how strong is your brand?

The esteemed DU brand shouldn’t feel intimidated by Metro State trying to better identify our rapidly growing institution.

Should all universities start worrying that they will be confused with another university that has the word “university” in its title?

“National research study” and “nationally recognized branding experts?” Who conducted this research? Who did they talk to? Where are the hard numbers? Saying “the results of the study are clear” doesn’t automatically make it clear.

“Harmful name confusion.” It’s absurd. How stupid you must think people are if they were to confuse DU with MSUD.

Can you really say that “Metropolitan State College Denver” was our top choice? Denver State University was our top choice. That’s when you decided to step in.

You’re concerned with where we put the word “Denver” in our name? Who owns the rights to the word and our name? Apparently you’re arrogant enough to feel like you can have a say. You say that 65 percent of your students come from out of state while 97 percent of our students live in the Denver area. Who represents a university in Denver better? We should be upset at your name.

We are proud of “Metro” being in our name. It represents our history and “brand.” We are the ones at risk of losing our legacy and brand recognition with a name change.

You say that Metro State is an “admirable mission focused on opportunity and access to higher education for a very broad audience.” Please define “broad audience,” DU. There’s no need to be polite about it. We clearly see how you feel about us. Trust us, we take pride in just how “broad” we are. Tell us about your “narrow audience.” Does that translate to DU being “narrow-minded?”

How haughty and arrogant of DU. Let’s not be quick to forget that DU almost went bankrupt in the mid-80s, when Metro was doing just fine. Had it not been for the efforts of DU chancellor-to-be Dan Ritchie — he used his and his friends’ money to keep the school afloat — we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Hey, everybody needs a helping hand sometimes, right?

Why does this even need to be an issue? Here’s a question: What would happen if both our universities focused this time on improving our respected institutions? What if the money spent during this ordeal was put back into our universities? It seems like a better way to spend these resources.

Yes, DU, we know we are the new guy in the university “club.” Maybe you feel that we deserve some ribbing or a humiliating rite of passage to go through. If that’s the case, I think you’ve done more than enough. Let us be. What did we ever do to you?

Seriously DU, we have enough problems with our own administration. We don’t need another school’s administration to worry about.