<p>i see a lot of both, but i feel like NU makes more sense. is one “official,” and is the other just an error? or are they both unofficial and commonly used?</p>
<p>It’s NU. The other one is “wrong.”</p>
<p>There is no NW it’s NU.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, at one time NW was correct. Back in Novemeber on Parents weekend my wife and I attended a seminar on the History of NU. It was a great talk and slide presentation given by a one of the schools archivists. One of the early pictures shows some sports uniforms with NW on them. I think they were swimmers. This was from the time men wore tops when swimming. At the end of the talk during the question and answer period I asked this exact question and he explained that over the years it has changed. At one time the school was North Western University. Two words. It gradually evolved to Northwestern and hence NU. </p>
<p>Something else ironic from that talk. NU hosted the very first NCAA basketball championship game, yet they have NEVER been in the tournament.</p>