See Talk:University of Wisconsin for the origins of this article! The system is really confusing for those of us who know little of the US system other than The Absent-Minded Professor.  The US experience of naming conflicts following mergers is not universal worldwide. My alma mater has absorbed several smaller institutions in a similar fashion, and their sporting teams and histories have been assumed by the larger institution with relatively little fuss, and even a certain amount of pride. That's not to say there's been no conflict, just that it has been concentrated in other areas.  But then the US universites appear to take their campus identities to extremes, especially when the boys put on those plastic suits of armour...  