[downerending]

I'd say that the "Alice and Bob" thing isn't as trivial as it seems. There is a long culture, especially in computer security, of using these example names. There's a connotation and context that's immediately available to those who know them. It's not unlike "foo" and "bar" in AI.

It might not be a huge effect, but not exposing students to this puts them at a subtle disadvantage to those who were. And the idea that these decisions should be dictated by some committee from elsewhere in the university is absurd.