re: ESPN still can't get ULL's logo right

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USL tried to pull off a. coup in the mid 1980s to become the University of Louisiana. They changed the letterhead on all its correspondence and started to refer itself as UL. The powers within Louisiana's university system said they are not the University of Louisiana and to cease and desist. And of course Nottheast Louisiana in Monroe had an opinion about it. It had just as much right to be UL as USL did. So it resulted in USL becoming ULL and Northeast becoming ULM.

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That's wrong. This article is pretty much how I recall what happend, I was a USL student at the time and opposed to the name change (wish it still was USL). The article is clearly written from a USL/UL Lafayette bias but most of the specific are as I recall.

From the article

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After years of achievement and leadership in higher education and five years of planning and lobbying, UL President Dr. Ray Authement was rewarded for his determination on April 27, 1984 as the Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities voted by a 17-1 margin to drop the “Southwestern” from USL’s name. On that date, the University of Southwestern Louisiana became THE University of Louisiana.

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The name didn’t last long, however, as traditional Louisiana university politics, with its long history of paranoia and infighting, became a factor. Some administrators at other state schools worried that UL’s new name would diminish their image. According to Baton Rouge’s Morning Advocate, LSU Chancellor James H. Wharton said he is concerned that “the new name will result in the university’s expansion” (April 28, 1984). Ironically, the arguments against UL had a familiar ring since they were used in 1960 when Southwestern Louisiana Institute upgraded to university status and became the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

In May of 1984, the Board Regents, with the strong support of powerful LSU backers on and off the Board, took the issue to district court, asserting that only the Louisiana Legislature could rename state universities. They won as District Judge William H. Brown agreed with the plaintiffs and stripped the University of Louisiana of its new name. Although Judge Brown was an alumnus of LSU, and an active supporter of that school, he did not recuse himself from the case despite this apparent conflict of interest. He ruled against the name change despite clear constitutional language confirming both the name change and the way it was handled, despite an opinion from the State Attorney General, and despite the legal precedent of other state schools who had changed their names through the same course of action. For example, when LSUNO changed its name to UNO, it only received approval from the LSU Board of Supervisors. UL, however, was ordered to revert to USL on May 22, 1984 and Louisiana remained only one of two states to not have a University of State. Soon after and in specific response to this case, the state legislature changed state law to require that only the legislature could change the name of state colleges and universities.

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Since the class of 1984 graduated with University of Louisiana diplomas, the vision was realized and the goal was set. Attempts at appeal were unsuccessful as the Louisiana Supreme Court refused to hear the case in October of 1986.

It took until 1995 for the Louisiana State Legislature to agree to allow the change. But, passage of Act 45 required a compromise that has become known as the “LSU Rule.” The LSU Rule required that at least two state universities change their name at the same time. It required that all universities who change their name change it to “University of Louisiana at [city designation].” It stipulated that the city designation must be used in all official university business and has since grown far beyond its original legislative language, to regulate minute details such as font sizes to be used by the respective universities. Additionally, the bill insisted that LSU was, and would remain, the "flagship university" of Louisiana. This was odd for a legislative act that had absolutely no bearing on LSU or the LSU System. Finally, that act changed the name of the Board of Trustees to the “University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors.”

Initially, it looked like Northeast Louisiana University would make the new name a reality, but they hesitated and stalled.

Finally, in 1999 Northeast’s Lawson Swearingen agreed to the name change. Ironically, as a Monroe area representative in the legislature back in 1984, he was one of the more vocal opponents of USL’s name change. The Board of Regents and the UL Board of Supervisors finally approved the name change in late August 1999. USL became UL Lafayette and NLU became UL Monroe.

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As for this part of your statement:

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But even to this day, ULL is still trying to be known as the University of Louisiana. It is on their uniforms, signs, etc. I guess they figure the more time that passes with their consistent reference to itself as UL then one day they will be known as the University of Louisiana by default.

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That is a complete misstatement of what the university is doing. The NCAA asks each school via their conference to designate how their school should be referred and to provide designated logos. UL Lafayette specified either Louisiana or Louisiana Lafayette and specified NOT ULL. It really comes across as little brotherish, and that's coming from a graduate.