Wellington City now officially opposes Victoria University of Wellington's proposed name change, but the mayor remains steadfast in his support to change the name to University of Wellington.
Despite pleas from the university's vice chancellor Grant Guilford, who has championed the change, Wellington City Council pushed forward with an official motion expressing its opposition.
It follows a Victoria University council meeting on Monday, where the university deferred discussions about the name change until May while it decided whether to legally challenge the Minister of Education Chris Hipkins' decision to block the change.
The city council's decision, which came at a full council meeting on Wednesday, was egged on by four public submitters, including a current student of Victoria University, a market research expert and National Party list MP Nicola Willis.
She said there were "far more pressing issues" for the university and referred to the overwhelming opposition of students past and present.
"How can a name change possibly succeed without support from the university community?"
But mayor Justin Lester, who supports the change, said it was not an easy or popular decision but sometimes such decisions had to be made.
"I support the university and the minister's decision, and it's time to move on," he said after the vote, of which he was not in favour.
Councillor Andy Foster had tabled the motion to distance the council from Lester's comments that a name change was a good strategic move that he wholeheartedly supported, which had been made at a regional mayoral forum in August last year.
It had initially been instigated last October, before the Education Minister rejected the university's bid for a legal name change, which would require an Act of Parliament. The university council meeting had triggered its reintroduction.
According to the motion, the university had based part of the name change proposal on becoming "closer" to Wellington city and region, and there was a "strong implication" that the council supported the name change.
Describing the proposed change as "widely unpopular", it described "many" councillors, among them VUW alumni, "deeply opposed".
The name change was "likely to alienate many Wellingtonians".
Some councillors argued it was not the council's "business" to wade into the name change debate, while others said the university was wasting its money on the campaign that would be better spent investing in facilities and support for students.
The motion had initially read that the Council "strongly" opposed the name change, but this was modified to remove the adverb on the request of Councillor Sarah Free.
HOW THEY VOTED
"Wellington City Council advises the Minister of Education that it opposes the proposed name change for Victoria University of Wellington and wishes that the University continues to be called, and be legally known as 'Victoria University of Wellington'."
For (8)
Against (6)
Abstained (1)