Friends are Electric

Background: the new logo. I despise the look of the new logo, a feeling which is quite common in the student body. That’s fine. I dislike the way it looks, it seems tacky and without any meaning.

This morning, all of my internal bitterness shone through like a blazing star. I realized that, actually, it is the ideal representative of this university. It has an amazing degree of pretension about nothingness. It is an attempt at being trendy without backup.

It is an entirely hollow gesture, an attempt to become something without the steps needed to get there. Symbolism is a power force, but without context it has no meaning.

In short: yes it stands out. It is very clearly different than what other institutions are doing. But it stands out for the wrong reasons. It highlights all of the negatives of this place without the positives. It doesn’t speak to academics at all. It ignores the involvement and participation of the students who make this university what it is.

Writing in the student newspaper, Michael Davenport got it right. Its just a costume, an attempt to become something without changing what you really are.

I was wrong. The new logo has plenty of very valid symbolism. I can think of none which is positive.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.