The students have spoken, and they want Stephen Colbert.

Penn State's Eberly College of Science has been holding a contest in which students suggest a new name for the student center in the Ritenour Building. 

The name in the lead -- a very, very big lead -- is S. COLBERT, reportedly an acronym for "Science Center Of Learning: Bringing Educational Resources Together."

The group's worst-kept secret is that the name is not an acronym at all; it's a way to name part of a university building after one of college students' favorite celebrities without him handing out wads of cash for the honor. 

Colbert, the fictional, ultra-conservative host of the painfully amusing "Colbert Report" on Comedy Central, has a bit of history when it comes to having things named after him.

According to this L.A. Times article, Colbert is the namesake of a new species of water beetle, a portion of a math problem, a Michigan junior hockey team, a Ben and Jerry's flavor and a Virgin American jet. 

It's not remotely serious. It's just seriously funny.

On his show, Colbert conducts a segment called "Who's honoring me now?" and sometimes replaces it with "Who's not honoring me now?" During the latter, he asks (more like demands) that the "Colbert Nation" stand up for what's right by voting, petitioning and protesting for the Colbert name to be slapped onto everything.

And in a true show of popularity turned into power, the followers listen. Combine the large size of "Colbert Nation" with a fierce loyalty to a fictional character, and we're just a few seasons away from living in Colbertania in the United States of Colbert.

The group even pushed around NASA once before ... in a way. 

In a contest similar to that of Riteour's re-naming, Colbert was selected by a large margin to be the namesake of a new NASA space module. When the space program refused to honor the contest results, Colbert blasted it on his show, sending his Colbertians into a frenzy. It was only a short while later that NASA had a representative on the show to announce the naming of a treadmill on the space module after Colbert. He loved it (he was going into space, after all), and so the fans loved it. 

Though S.COLBERT has 85 percent of the votes right now, the naming cannot take place without university approval. As much of a shock as it would be for the name to pass (no donations = no name on a building), it might get Penn State a 15 to 30-second segment on the Comedy Central show. 

There is a way for Nittany Nation and the Colbert Nation to see eye-to-eye on this.

Penn State can accept what the students want by temporarily naming the center S.COLBERT. The action is bound to get some mention on the show.

Then, university President Graham Spanier can use that opportunity to challenge Colbert (something he's never turned down on his show) to donate the money needed to re-name the center. Colbert will ask his supporters for pennies each, and S. COLBERT becomes a permanent fixture.

Penn State gets a new name for a center and a mention on "Who's honoring me now?" while Colbert is honored once again. 

How can this opportunity be ignored? After all, the No. 2 vote-getter (with 5 percent of the votes) is PULSE.