University President Dave Frohnmayer “sealed” the logo debate with an “O” Tuesday when he announced two symbols will represent the school: The historical seal and the athletic “O.”
The “O” identity “will become stronger and stronger over the next six months to a year” as the school uses up older supplies and orders more stationery, Frohnmayer said. The logo will adorn letterheads and business cards, among other things. Frohnmayer said the school will use the seal, which depicts a silhouette of Mount Hood and the Latin words for “Mind Moves Mass,” for academic functions such as graduation.
The president polled various on- and off-campus groups since the fall to help him decide which symbol best represents the University’s academic and athletic image. He also asked Portland-based consulting firm Landrey & Co. to gather information about the school and help decide on a logo that best symbolizes it.
Prior months had seen heated wrangling over the issue, as some University senators said the “O” reflects athletics more than academics. Others said a designer spent hours with Frohnmayer discussing academics and his vision for the school before creating the “O,” which has become synonymous with a wide variety of Duck athletic apparel. And still others bemoaned the idea of abandoning the seal because it is so entrenched in school tradition.
“Symbols make people develop very strong feelings,” Frohnmayer said. “And symbolism is always important in the academic world.”
Concurring with the president, University Senate President Nathan Tublitz said something as simple as a logo can elicit complex emotional responses in people. He said the Faculty Advisory Committee and University Senate Executive Committee have spent hours deliberating over the issue with the president and other officials since early fall.
“Obviously, a symbol with a middle finger raised is going to generate a different response than a symbol that doesn’t have something like that,” he said. “I fully support (Frohnmayer’s) final decision.”
The move leaves open the possibility for academic departments to decide for themselves which of the two logos to use on letterheads, business cards and other stationery. He said they could also use a combination of both. The decision does not eliminate the “Fighting Duck” or interlocking “UO” logos, he said.
Certain apparel companies interested in using the Duck for their merchandise may continue to do so. And the interlocking “UO” will still adorn garbage cans and the Moshofsky Center. But the president said he wanted continuity in the public’s image of the University.
“The University is represented by dozens, if not hundreds, of different signs, banners, initials, mascots and so forth,” Frohnmayer said. “While some of that is a great exercise in imagination … there is significant confusion on the part of the public as to what we are representing at all.”
ASUO Student Senator Eric Bailey, who sits on the University Senate Executive Committee, said he was “perturbed” by Frohnmayer’s decision.
He said student leadership didn’t find out until early February — months after informal discussions began — about the University’s intentions to pare down its logos. Bailey said that having separate logos for sports and academics would be a good thing. He said abandoning the seal for the “O” would have caused an uproar.
“I’ve got an ‘O’ on my hat,” he said. “I’m not anti- ‘O,’ but I’m not pro-‘O’ either. The words ‘Mind Moves Mass’ totally embrace the academic spirit. This decision is not as bad as it could have been, but it’s not everything I was hoping for, either.”