University abbrev. (and article usage with names)

[Peter Richardson]

> when naming BYU, as in "So you want to drive to *the* Brigham Young
> University?" or "Here's how to get to *the* BYU". This seems odd to my
...
Has
> anyone anywhere noticed similar constructions with school names *ending* in
> those words?
Oh, indeedy. When I was at Ohio State in the mid-60s I was amused to find
that it called itself (as it still does) The Ohio State University. We
grad. students preferred the indefinite article: An Ohio State University
-- a predictable twist from a group that included a history grad student
who was campaigning for mayor of Columbus on the platform of changing the
name of the city from Columbus to Ericsson.
>
Peter Richardson