News > May 1, 2008

By Elliot Engstrom | News editor

In an e-mail sent to the university community the morning of April 24, President Nathan O. Hatch wrote of a new university logo which would be announced April 30.

click to enlarge

(Graphic courtesy of the Office of Creative Services)

However, a week before the planned date of unveiling, posters on the www.scout.com message boards were able to apprehend – legally – the university’s new logo.

The new logo was found in the online version of the 2008-2009 undergraduate bulletin, which has recently been put online.

However, the publishers of the online bulletin originally neglected to take out the then-unreleased logo.

The mistake was corrected, but not before the bulletin was downloaded and published in an Old Gold & Black blog post, which has received 35 comments over the last week.

Responses to the blog (www.oldgoldandblack.com/campus/entry/new_wfu_logo_leaked/) have been spirited to say the least.

“Dr. Hatch will be joining the ranks of Dr. Scales on the list of Wake Forest presidents who left embarrassing blemishes on the campus,” one poster said April 25.

Another poster agreed.

“Every person on the ‘visual identity committee’ should be fired,” the post said.

“What a waste of time and money. I am losing my confidence in Dr. Hatch and his administration.”

Other responses included “Looks like a waffle” and “It looks like the Volkswagen symbol. Nice, Wake Forest.”

However, not all feedback on the new logo has been negative.

“I know that change is always opposed at first, so maybe we should give it a chance,” one poster said. “We should also give Hatch’s strategic plans an opportunity to pan out. I think that he’s looking at the big picture in trying to make the school better; of course there’s going to be change involved in doing that. Wake Forest is a great university now, but don’t people want Wake to be better all around?”

All readers are invited to visit the blog and voice their opinions.

Many students have expressed concern that the logo does not look marketable for an ACC team. However, this is a faulty complaint. The visual identity committee has told the Old Gold & Black that all university athletic teams will continue using the traditional “WF” logo.