VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The move to change Virginia Wesleyan University's name to Batten University is not sitting well with some current and former students.
University leaders announced plans last week to formally change the name in 2026 in honor of the contributions of Jane Batten and her family.
Watch: Virginia Wesleyan University to be renamed 'Batten University' in 2026
Former Virginia Wesleyan athlete Devin Cowhey was part of the Wesleyan soccer team that went to the Final Four championship in 2006. She also worked as a faculty member for three years after graduating in 2010.
She was shocked when she found out that her alma mater was changing its name.
"How do we stop this? How do we make sure our voices are heard? How do we make sure current students voices are heard? There's a group of us spearheading this to see what is our best path forward," said Cowhey. "You're changing something so meaningful to people. That name, when you think of Wesleyan, you think of Ohio Wesleyan, North Carolina Wesleyan. It was part of a network, we knew it was in Virginia and we understood it."
Cowhey has started a petition that, as of Monday, Aug. 25, has more than 3,800 signatures of former and current Wesleyan students who want to halt the name change.
WTKR News 3 has reached out to the university for a comment on the petition and we have not yet heard back.
