There has definitely been some pushback. The number one complaint seems to be that students don't like the names we've assigned them.

For example, junior Irving Rosenberg feels the name 'Thurston Howell III' doesn't capture who he is. Similarly, a senior named Butch Ducati refuses to adopt the name 'Harley Fiorina,' even though he's already got a motorcycle for a last name. Go figure.

Personally, I think these students are being short-sighted. First, a lot of them need to get new lives, and a name change is a good place to start. When I see these information technology majors walking around in mukluks and chewing the strings on their crocheted caps, I think how different their lives would be if they had names like Lance Armstrong or Neil Armstrong or Louis Armstrong. The Rename-a-Student program is going to give these people a second chance at life.

The other thing students have ignored is that this program is going to make UCSD feel like a family again. It's literally going to reintroduce us to one another. Everyone's going to be walking around campus wearing a tag with his new name on it so he can remind himself who he is. That means people won't just say 'Hi' when they pass. They're going to say 'Hi Rudolph' or 'Whassup Murray' or 'You lookin' good, Ramona,' because they know they're not going to get the other person's name wrong. Sure, there will be times when a student doesn't know that someone is saying hello to her because she can't remember her own name, but everyone over the age of sixty has that same problem and you don't hear them complaining very loudly.