As the FAU “branding process” is underway, I’m starting to worry about what may be conflicting goals. Since last September, there has been a lot of talk about the inconsistency of FAU’s logo(s). There is the Blue Wave for Baseball, the Owls for the men’s sports and Lady Owls for the women’s sports. There are different versions of what the Owl looks like and different colors on different uniforms.
The stated goal has been to bring uniformity to FAU’s logo. While that might be somewhat reasonable, it’s the other goal that I would like to focus on. According to FAU President Frank Brogan’s message on www.fau.edu/branding, FAU wants “a look that accurately reflects the pride FAU takes in being a center of outstanding scholarship, 21st century research.” I’d like someone to explain to me the connection between scholarship and something called “branding.” Isn’t that what’s done to cattle?
It’s apparent that FAU’s main motivation isn’t to boost the image of the academic life but rather to sell sports wear. FAU has hired Rickabaugh Graphics who has created logos for Ohio State, Vanderbilt, and even the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. Eric Rickabaugh, the founder of Rickabaugh Graphics, basically states that his company specializes in sports logos. In an interview on www.logolounge.com, he says, “The NBA saw our work … We could see that there was the possibility of a specialty evolving.”
While it is somewhat fiscally responsible to hire Rickabaugh, the cheapest graphic company that showed interest in FAU, it’s still a sign of upfront dishonesty coming from the administration.
The branding process has nothing to do with “outstanding scholarship or 21st century research.” Of the 18 members on the committee, five have a direct link to athletics including FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos, who chairs the committee. If there are still any doubts as to whether this is a sports endeavor or not, just look at the minutes for February 4 under the Rickabaugh presentation. The first stage of the process reads: “In college athletics the process is extremely important.”
What’s really sad about this branding committee thing is the amount of effort being put into it. FAU took the time to set up a committee, create a web page and interview about 15 companies all for some sports logo. If the goal of this logo process is to reflect FAU’s commitment to scholarship and up-to-date research then that’s where energy of this magnitude should be focused. Instead it’s going into creating a logo that will really look cool on your next tuition, which will probably be increased by about 7.5 percent because FAU is powerless to do anything about low university budgets that create greater dependencies on tuition.
Where’s the 18-person committee to deal with the issues of not gouging the students for every penny they have? With tuition on the rise and university budgets at a level still less than adequate, spending money on a sports logo is not only irresponsible but also a reflection of how little FAU values “scholarship” and “21st century research.” So wait, I take back what I said about the administration lying. A silly logo is an accurate reflection of the pride (or rather sloth) that FAU takes in scholarship and research. I’m sorry for not seeing that earlier.
