Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Management at University of Galway has asked staff to “politely correct” anyone who uses “older or incorrect versions and abbreviations” of its name.

Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Deputy President and Registrar of University of Galway, or Ollscoil na Gaillimhe (formerly known as Queen’s College Galway; University College Galway, or UCG; and National University of Ireland Galway, or NUIG) made the plea in an email issued to staff earlier in May.

“Almost inevitably in Ireland, a tendency in some quarters has arisen to seek to bury the name behind letters, an action which defeats the purpose of our carefully researched rebranding decision,” he said.

That research, he said, showed that its key strength was that it was a university, based in Galway, “a city that evokes immensely positive feelings nationally and globally.

“It is important therefore that all staff use the new name in full, in either language”, he said.

“We are not ‘UG’, or ‘UoG’, or ‘UofG’ or OnaG, or any other such contraction,” Mr Ó Dochartaigh stated.

“When others mis-spell or foreshorten names, whether personal or institutional, if it isn’t an honest mistake then it is disrespectful, and it is common practice to politely correct the mistake in a reply.

“Only the most obtuse individuals would ignore such information and persist with incorrect usage. I would ask all staff to own and use our new name, and to politely point out the new name to anyone, internal or external, who uses older or incorrect versions and abbreviations,” Mr Ó Dochartaigh said.

The directive, emailed to staff, comes months after the university spent some €500,000 on rebranding itself to University of Galway or Ollscoil na Gaillimhe, names which the university said had no abbreviations.

(Photo: Deputy President and Registrar of University of Galway, Pól Ó Dochartaigh).

This is a shortened preview version of this column. For more Bradley Bytes, see the May 26 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.