Students demand referendum as calls to scrap new logo gain momentum
‘Stop the logo’ petition exceeds 5,000-signature mark.
Imperial struggled to contain the fallout from its decision to change the university logo, as students demanded a referendum and overwhelmed the College’s social media pages with a barrage of criticism.
The university deleted its first Instagram post unveiling the new logo just a day after uploading it. A comment under the post reading ‘use me as the dislike button’ had racked up over 700 dislikes in the hours before deletion. The post itself had gained around 1,400 likes.
See also: ‘Imperial is a teenage maths tutor’, declares new College brand guidance
Students, staff, and alumni have rallied against the change, and a petition opposing it has now gained over 5,000 signatures. Imperial’s own survey on the new brand received 350 responses.
A LinkedIn post slating the logo has been viewed over 80,000 times since it was posted yesterday, according to its author Eryk Krusinski.
‘It looks like a logo one would see on the side of a Happy Meal toy,’ he writes, supporting calls for detractors to write to Imperial's management board and ask for a rebrand.
Last Friday, Elephes Sung, a postgraduate student, wrote to President Hugh Brady calling for ‘a voting process regarding the new logo,' saying this ‘would ensure all voices are heard, and that the decision reflects our collective sentiment.’
247 of the 289 respondents to a poll on Felix’s Instagram page – over 85% – said they were in favour of the proposal, and Sung’s comments were supported by Anaya Jaffer, the second-year Mechanical Engineering student who created the Change.org petition.
Felix understands that students have contacted the Union to discuss tabling a motion opposing the logo, for the next session of Union Council on 19th March.
Imperial’s brand project team said last week that it would ‘take any opportunity to hear what people think, to listen, and to answer questions.’
The team provided project updates in a video, on its website, and through a series of emails. But students and staff say they were not aware of the new logo until last week, because none of the emails explicitly mentioned the logo or contained images of the changes.
A brand project spokesperson said this week that the new brand ‘articulate[s] Imperial’s purpose and vision, our strengths and impact, while seeking to differentiate us in a crowded and competitive landscape.’
