We’re a little over a week into October. The leaves are changing colors and the days (presumably) should be starting to get cooler. Change is all around us in nature, but it’s not quite as visible among University signage.
Funny enough, the latter shouldn’t even be an issue.
The University underwent a rebranding this summer. That much should be obvious if you read the Torch, but probably not so much if you’re casually walking around campus.
After touting changes that were supposedly coming to the University this summer, you’d be hard-pressed to find the new St. John’s crest anywhere. Maps? Old crest. Classroom signage? Old crest. Awnings for buildings? Old crest. Banners on podiums for guest speakers? usually old crest – just see our Lifestyle section.
Here we are, months after the rebrand was announced in late June. That’s months after administrators said the rebrand had begun. That’s after freshmen received newly-branded sweatshirts and umbrellas, but checked into events at a table covered in an old logo.
Athletics won’t even have an official rebrand until next summer. A bit foreboding considering the logo on St. John’s uniforms accentuates ‘STJ.’
All of this begs the question:Why rebrand if the changes are going to take a year to implement? Especially if the Athletics rebrand isn’t in conjunction with the University’s. All it does is create massive uncertainty amongst the St. John’s community.
Let’s take a moment to restate that we love the rebrand. The return to SJU, while met with some opposition from current students at first, seems to have been embraced (though Cheerleaders are still chanting “STJ” at soccer games) and the new color scheme and crest are home runs.
The problem is, when this University gets something right like it did with the rebrand, it still manages to hurt itself by failing to implement it in a timely fashion. When the Torch spoke to administrators for rebranding stories, a new website was mentioned. We figured that website would launch when the rebrand became official.
Instead, here we are, literally four months later operating on the old stjohns.edu – old logos and missing pages intact.
We’re not saying there aren’t reasons for things not to be implemented. Signs need to be made and money needs to be used to make them. Rather, the point is: Why bother implementing this rebrand when you were clearly not ready to finish the job in a timely manner?
