Here’s a sampling of some of the reactions – the good, the bad and the downright silly – to Western University’s new branding (Meet the New U., Jan. 26):
Love the new branding – great reveal on YouTube. Congratulations.
Lise Pedersen
Manager, International Learning, Western International
You cannot change the name of the university. It’s outrageous. We are UWO. WU is Waterloo for Christ’s sake. This is bull. The new logo sucks, too. What was wrong with anything before? Bottom line, Amit Chakma, you messed up.
Dave Tripp
Yuk. The new name change is just a nasty kowtow to slang and has no decorum or refinement that one normally associates with a university education. … Are we paying tuition so that it sounds like our daughter has moved to Calgary?
Audrey Festeryga
In trying to be all upbeat and positive about the new identity, the website refers to the university coat of arms’ ‘rising sun.’ Who writes this stuff? Not a UWO grad, one hopes.
Tony Rees (MA, ’72)
Glad you are keeping the colour purple, like the ‘new’ crest, not too keen on the name. Aside from the geographic fact the university is not in western anything (even in London, it is more northern than western), it really won’t sell well around the world. Is it ‘western’ in terms of its philosophy, dress code, political leaning? Is it related to Trinity Western or Western College of Veterinary Medicine or Pacific Western or Case Western? I am sure there are plenty more to be confused about. At least Western gave some distinction to the location.
First, we get Richard Ivey School of Business pretending it is a Toronto-based university and now we have Western pretending it is not in Ontario.
Maybe we can just call it WU and use that as the new cheer all grads shout at convocation (and then people who don’t know the university can simply respond ‘WU who?’).
Bruce Palmer
Unlike many of my other fellow students, I am not completely against the rebranding of Western.
The new logo and colour changes are both excellent. I am not even entirely against the new name, as long as The University of Western Ontario remains the legal name. …
I believe the negative reactions are partly because of the new name, but more because of the shock of it. Had the school been open about the fact they were changing the name of the school as well, it would have been received better.
I find it was unnecessary for several reasons.
Primarily, The University of Western Ontario and UWO names were completely fine. I fail to understand how this name change will improve the international recognition of the school. The University of Southern California is one of the most well-known schools in the world; having a so-called regional name has not held them back.
Secondly, just because Western is perhaps the common colloquial name for the school does not mean it needs to be officially recognized. It would be absurd for Wilfrid Laurier University to change their name to Laurier University or McMaster decided to officially brand itself as Mac.
I can accept the name change, but I believe it was an unnecessary change and not carried out properly.
Jon Dunning
Colloquially, people refer to UWO as Western, just as one shortens other institutional names. But Western University is meaningless, generic. … What’s wrong with Ontario?
Rich Lo
What a bland, generic name. Awful decision.
Richard Hall (MBA’80)
I’m not fond of this decision. It disregards the legacy of western Ontario. I’m proud of where UWO is, and the history this institution has in London.
Mark VanBerlo (’84)
Stupid, insensitive and appalling.
William R Morrison (PhD’73)
I have been on faculty long enough that I have seen the coat-of-arms discarded in favour of the tower, and now the tower in favour of a new coat-of-arms. This is hardly earth-shaking, but what calls for comment is the fact this ‘visual identity’ is accompanied by the genuinely bizarre idea of what President Chakma calls “a new common-use name” – Western University.
Universities are routinely referred to by short-forms, and most of us are comfortable with Western and even the now-deprecated UWO. But I cannot think another example of a university that officially refers to itself by what sounds like the name of another institution. There is no doubt in my mind that The University of Western Ontario is, in many respects, an unfortunate name — especially to an American ear it sounds like the name of a regional state school. But it is our true name, established by law and maintained by usage through much of the past century. It would take an act of Parliament to change it.
And so the name remains, but in all public and promotional material we will be Western University, a name that strikes me as even more unfortunate than the original. Apart from being ineffably weak and blandly generic, Western University seems to do little more than advertise an indifference to geography. The University of Western Ontario at least has the advantage of amplitude.
This new proposal, unveiled as a fait accompli, is quite simply appalling, and will be a source of acute embarrassment to anyone who understands anything of the nature of a university. I have no objection to the use of the new coat-of-arms in marketing or to referring to the university as Western, but Western only makes sense in direct relation to the real name of the institution.
Much has been made of the importance of tradition, but that tradition is inextricably bound up with the actual name of the university; that name must not be buried. Accordingly, the ‘common-use name’ must be abandoned immediately. With students attending Western University but receiving University of Western Ontario degrees, it will create unwelcome confusion, and, more important, the ‘common-use name’ is simply false.
And who can take seriously a university whose public image is rooted in dishonesty?
C. G. Brown
Professor, Classical Studies
I grew up in this community and UWO is a part of the community’s image. I’m very disappointed to see this new ‘image’ of UWO. Western University – and the new colour and logo – look like a cheap online school rather than the prestigious, well-known, academic institution which I thought I was attending.
… We are not in Western Canada; we are in Western Ontario. Shame on you, UWO.
Allison Daigle (Class of 2012)
Assuming that a more contemporary name such as Ugg Boot U. was not in the running, that really only leaves five words left to play with – The University of Western Ontario.
Calling it The University seems just too generic (even if you pronounce it Thee University to help it stand out). And Of University doesn’t work – no one wants their campus named after a preposition.
Ontario University is OK, but that just gives away where we’re located. (Shouldn’t students have to figure that out for themselves as part of being accepted here?)
So that only leaves Western University, I guess.
Meanwhile a student somewhere in Asia who is considering applying to Western U. is probably wondering, “Hmmm, is that in Wyoming or Montana?”
Mark Kearney
Lecturer, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication/Journalism
“Old Macdonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O. With a financial crisis here, a financial crisis there …” Disregarding any of the other related issues, surely this is not the time to have spent $ 200,000 on such a frivolous wasteful expense. Clearly, there are far more pressing financial concerns crying out for financial address. This alumnus will think twice before he ever considers any further contributions to UWO … gggrrrr.
Walt Cherwaty (’62)
As a graduate of The University of Western Ontario, I was saddened to hear my university no longer exists. Like fast food, sound bites, texting contractions or blazingly fast scrolling television credits, who has time for UWO when WU will suffice? A name said with pride for 134 years is now lost for the sake of expediency.
Y. Amatnieks (HBSc’78)
How does one alienate as many alumni as possible, how does one discourage alumni from donating and how does one make faculty a laughingstock throughout the academic world? It’s simple: Just change the name of the university. Multi-tasking at its best.
Douglas E. Gerber
Professor Emeritus, Department of Classical Studies
As an alumna with a daughter graduating this year, I read with interest about the new logo and now that I have seen it I am frankly appalled. It looks like a bird – two eyes, furrowed brow and a mouth. It kind of reminds me of a blue jay. I understand shortening the name, but the logo?
Beverley Stringer