ASU Puts Obama’s Name Back on Scholarship Program

A day after it renamed the Obama Scholars Program “ASU Promise Plus,” Arizona State University made a U-turn. 

The university’s website on Tuesday said ASU Promise Plus “was previously known as the Obama Scholars Program,” Axios reported. Spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez told the outlet, “ASU periodically reviews and updates program names to reflect the university’s priorities and the students served” and “ASU Promise Plus reflects the university’s continued commitment to expanding access and supporting Arizona students on their paths to degrees.”

But on Wednesday, the program was once again named the Obama Scholars Program. 

Gonzales on Wednesday told Axios that the university “continues to have Obama Scholars. It is one set of scholarships offered as part of a … larger portfolio which is called the ASU Promise Program.”

According to Axios’s reporting, two other ASU web pages still refer to the ASU Promise Plus program. Archived versions show that they previously referred to it as “Obama Scholars.”

The scholarship program was established in 2005 and offers up to four years of tuition and fees for qualifying Arizona high school graduates, as well as assistance with housing and meal costs. ASU named the program after then-President Barack Obama in 2009, shortly after university officials faced backlash for not granting the president an honorary degree prior to his commencement address.