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UC suspends new logo after widespread protest
This image shows the old logo of the University of California, left, with the new logo. The university's original logo -- with its open book, 1868 date stamp and "Let there be light" script -- will still be in circulation, appearing on president's letters and official university documents. But marketing materials and websites will feature a radically simple and more contemporary symbol: a little "C" nesting inside a shield-shaped "U." (AP Photo/Oakland Tribune)
LOS ANGELES — The University of California on Friday suspended a new, modern looking logo after receiving widespread criticism about the contemporary design replacing the venerable institutional seal.
University Senior Vice President for External Relations Daniel Dooley said in a statement that although he believed the new logo would eventually gain acceptance, he wanted to respect the “significant negative response from students, alumni and other members of our community.”
Some 50,000 people signed an online petition calling for the university to scrap the new logo, which features a yellow, fading “C” inside a blue, shield-shaped “U.”
Critics called it cheap, corporate-looking and unworthy of a prestigious university. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is a member of the university’s board of regents, termed it “a disaster.”
On Friday, Newsom took to Twitter to praise the university’s aboutface. “Power of the people!…I applaud UC for listening and pulling logo,” he tweeted.
Dooley said many people misconstrued the new monogram as totally replacing the traditional “Let there be light” seal.
The new logo, which was introduced about a year ago, was meant to distinguish systemwide documents from those of individual campuses, while leaving the seal on diplomas, acceptance letters and similar documents.
The details on the seal were hard to reproduce on websites, smartphones and tablet computers, officials said.
The new logo was designed by the university’s presidential office and won praise from outside design experts, Dooley said.
Dooley called the controversy over the image “a major distraction” for the university’s communications office. He said the office would look at the issue at some time in the future.
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