Beaver College, in an attempt to eliminate ridicule and boost enrollment, changed its name in 2001 to Arcadia University.
At the time of the name change, University President Bette Landman said that the old name “too often elicits ridicule in the form of derogatory remarks pertaining to the rodent, the TV show Leave It to Beaver and the vulgar reference to the female anatomy.”
The problems with the name worsened with the rise of the Internet, as many filters intended to screen out sexually explicit material blocked access to the Beaver College website.
I understand this dilemma. While it does not happen often, my emails are occasionally captured by spam filters because of my last name.
Always looking for a means of turning a negative into a positive, I have occasionally used this last-name-spam-filter excuse in order to garner forgiveness and even sympathy from someone who I have forgotten to email or reply to.
