Let’s get a couple things out of the way first. IU isn’t even a land grant school. Purdue is Indiana’s land grant university.
Schools like Michigan State and Penn State are big “state” schools but Illinois State and Indiana State are considered “little brother” schools, thus it can be difficult to know which school is THE state school. Which is why a school might want to identify themselves as THE state school.
tUofI doesn’t even make sense in the context of what I am talking about. Illinois is Illinois’ land grant university and “state school” but doesn’t have a “State” attached to it like Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State, which are also all land grant “state schools.” Therefore Illinois can’t use “The” to reinforce its state school status because “State” isn’t even in the school’s name to reinforce.
On the other hand Michigan State is the land grant school of Michigan so using The Michigan State University would totally make sense to identify themselves as THE state school versus the University of Michigan since it NOT the land grant state school. Same goes for Penn State and Penn. Or Iowa State and Iowa.
After seeing the backlash here and wondering if I could be wrong about all this, I decided to Google it before posting again. Here’s what I found:
From the Ohio State library website:
“Why are we called "THE" Ohio State University"?
In 1986, a new University logo was introduced in the hopes of moving away from the "OSU" symbol, which had been used since 1977. The change from simply "OSU" was said to "reflect the national stature of the institution." University officials wanted the institution to be known as "The Ohio State University," again, since OSU could also mean Oregon State and Oklahoma State University.
However, the "The" was actually part of the state legislation when the university was renamed in 1878. The following excerpt is from the Board of Trustee minutes:
"...the educational institution heretofore known as the 'Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College,' shall be known and designated hereafter as 'The Ohio State University.'"
Those who wanted the name change thought the original name was too narrow in scope, and that it was inadequate for the institution that was the only beneficiary of the land grant act. President Edward Orton was insistent that a new name would separate the institution from other colleges in Ohio.
Legend also has it that "The" was used to show the other colleges which institution was supposed to be the leader in the state - both in size and in financial support from the legislature.”
library.osu.edu
