U.S. News

Actions

GMU Tweaks Its Antonin Scalia Law School Name To Avoid Awkward Acronym

George Mason University honored the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia by naming its law school after him. But its acronym is a little awkward.
Posted at 7:27 AM, Apr 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-06 07:27:00-04

George Mason University honored Antonin Scalia by renaming its law school after the late Supreme Court justice.

But that gesture became more of a joke after the wonderful world of social media realized the acronym for the school's new name was a little, well, unflattering.

GMU first announced it would change its law school's name to the Antonin Scalia School of Law on March 31, after it received a $30 million donation from the Charles Koch Foundation and an anonymous donor.

And it didn't take long for some snarky Twitter users to discover the abbreviation for the Antonin Scalia School of Law is pretty similar to a not-so-honorable word.

The school quickly acknowledged the acronym issue in a letter to students and alumni and announced a plan to make a small tweak to the name to avoid any more awkward abbreviations.

The letter read, in part, "The name initially announced — The Antonin Scalia School of Law — has caused some acronym controversy on social media. The Antonin Scalia Law School is a logical substitute."

The name change will reportedly go into effect July 1, pending a final stamp of approval from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

This video includes clips from George Mason University and images from Getty Images.