Facebook petition sinks revamped logo

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

The College's roll-out and subsequent retraction of its new logo this summer brought administrators face-to-face with a growing reality - the speed and power of Facebook as an organizing medium among college students.

Armed only with their computers and disdain for the "Middlebury Leaf," Sarah Franco '08 and Alex Benepe '09 brought more than 700 students together in their group "Just Say No to the Middlebury Logo" within days of the College's announcement of its new graphic identity to accompany a $500 million capital campaign.

"I first learned about the new logo at the end of May," said Franco. "A friend of my supervisor came by our office, carrying a box with a sign bearing the new logo, and she informed me that that was our new logo."

While Franco and Benepe's efforts became united online, their initial impetuses were different.

"I started a Facebook.com group for the sheer purpose of sharing this logo with my Middlebury friends and poking fun at it," said Franco, adding, "This was purely selfish and not at all altruistic. It wasn't even my intention to stop the logo."

Benepe had bigger plans.

"Almost everyone I know is on Facebook," said Benepe. "It's also extremely rapid - you can invite 400 people to a group in five minutes. And while it may not have the same weight as a real, tangible group of people, it still has numbers that make a strong argument."

The short and mostly good-natured fight over the logo pitted Franco, Benepe and their followers against the product of the prestigious New York branding firm Chermayeff & Geismar, creators of the famous NBC "peacock," as well as logos for universities like Cornell and NYU.

""We chose them because they had worked with higher education clients in the past,"" said Michael McKenna, the College's vice president for Communications and a member of the committee that approved the final design. "But it would have been ironic that a symbol that was intended to bring the community together was instead creating friction. After conferring with President Liebowitz, it was decided to honor [the protestors'] feelings."

The many members of the protest group shared a few key objections to the logo.

"When I first saw the new Middlebury College logo, I quickly checked the calendar to make sure it was April 1st," said Franco in her invitation to the Facebook group. "After discovering that this was not the case, my next reaction was to assume that Vermont had successfully seceded from the Union and we were now part of Canada."

Franco's thoughts on the logo echoed most students' objections to the non-descript leaf: while some thought it resembled the Canadian maple leaf, others were reminded of a marijuana symbol and still more felt it gave off a "corporate" vibe.

"Though it is an innovative and smart branding tool, the logo seemed highly corporate," said Noelle Bullion '08, who worked as a student member of the design committee last fall before traveling abroad. "I had feared this since Chermayeff & Geismar is a firm that has a history of successful corporate branding."

While many students objected to the substance of the new logo, others were turned off by the College's seeming hesitance to consult students before launching the new identity.

"After doing some research I realized that this logo had been somewhat created behind our backs," said Benepe. "I know that the intentions were good but it was only shown to a small percentage of students."

McKenna, meanwhile, argued that his committee made a strong effort to involve students in the design process. In addition to Carolyn Barnwell '07 and Bullion, the student members of the committee, McKenna and his colleagues consulted members of the Student Government Association (SGA) and the environmental Sunday Night Group.

"Any creative project like this requires that you let the designers do the work," explained McKenna. "Getting too many people involved too soon can be confusing. There's an old saying, 'a cow is a horse designed by a committee.' So we let C&G do the work, and selected what we thought was best."

McKenna said he was surprised by the swift response to the College's announcement - and by the power of Facebook.

"I was caught off guard by the strong reaction," he said. "Facebook was invented by some guys who lived down the hall from my son in college, and as a result I have always viewed it as student turf and not used it. But when I learned of the anti-logo group I did finally register."

For now, both designers and protestors seem happy with the College's decision the "Middlebury Leaf" be kept as a symbol for the $500 million campaign while a revised Middlebury seal - also designed by Chermayeff & Geismar - takes its place in other College correspondence.

"Their concession reflects their respect for the student body while at the same time still making use of a logo that was designed by a very high profile design firm," said Benepe. "I am quite happy with the compromise."