Posted on 05/05/2005 4:57:02 AM PDT by hispanarepublicana
Cotton stripped from Tech seal BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Texas Tech may face a fight from cotton farming alumni after the school announced Wednesday it would pluck the symbolic tufts of the West Texas crop from the school seal.
The changes are part of a broader marketing campaign to be launched early next year that Tech officials hope will improve the university's national reputation.
Chancellor David Smith refuted rumors Wednesday that the school was abandoning its past for the marketing effort.
A-J File Photo
"It is not undoing tradition, it is not undoing pride," Smith said of the changes. "We need a platform to celebrate what Texas Tech is accomplishing as a system."
But Eddie Smith, chairman of the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association and a Tech alumnus who was honored as an outstanding agriculturist last year by the university, said the omission ignored the major contributions cotton made to Tech.
"There's a lot of us that are tied to this university that are not going to let it slide by," Smith said.
School and system officials announced the changes Wednesday in an effort to counter an anonymous e-mail and message board campaign rallying opposition to the revisions.
The Internet campaign sparked rumors of school officials abandoning the Double T trademark while retooling school marketing materials.
In a hastily organized news conference held in response to e-mails and phone calls from concerned alumni, school officials stressed that the beloved Double T logo stitched onto merchandise, emblazoned on the sides of buildings and printed in the letterhead of the press releases distributed Wednesday would not be retired.
"The Double T has an indefinite contract," said Craig Wells, senior associate athletics director. "It's going to be around forever and ever and ever."
But it will no longer represent the academic side of the university. A new seal was designed by an Austin firm as part of a broader marketing campaign that has a $450,000 budget this year. The seal will be featured on academic communications, Chancellor Smith said.
Texas Tech seal Designed in 1927 by campus master planner William Watkin. Formally adopted in 1953. The Saddle Tramps raised $24,750 in 1972 to fund the 37,500-pound granite seal at the main entrance of the campus. The monument will not be changed to reflect the new design, according to Chancellor David Smith.Source: Texas Tech Web site
The seal will replace the myriad symbols each college and program had developed and present a more uniform message, said Bill Dean, executive director of the Texas Tech Alumni Association.
"It's possible for someone to get four or five pieces of correspondence from different areas of Tech and they could all look different," Dean said. "So I think it's a step in the right direction to try and standardize this.
"As to whether they should change it or not," Dean said, "I think that's another question that probably needs to be revisited a little bit."
The modified seal must still be approved by the Tech Board of Regents, which will meet next week.
Cotton bolls that form a cross in the middle of the school shield and represent the 10 cotton-producing counties around Tech were removed from the new design. Instead, a more general "vine-like" image will represent all of agriculture.
A granite monument to the seal erected at the main entrance of the campus in 1972 would not be changed to reflect the new design, Chancellor Smith said.
Several administrators admitted that they did not realize that the round, somewhat crudely drawn shapes splitting the school shield symbolized cotton.
The new design has a clearer symbol of agriculture, and the chancellor said it reflects that Tech is no longer a regional university but a system with seven campuses.
"You've got to decide that you're going to play in that larger sandbox," Smith said.
The changes were not acceptable, alumnus Eddie Smith said.
"Vines are weeds in my cotton fields," Smith said. "I think it's a mistake, and I wish they would ask the people who've supported the university through the years."
Speculation on the changes scattered throughout Lubbock and cyberspace Wednesday. Several alumni were baffled that the changes would be made with little public input.
"Change is inevitable," said Don Harris, a Lubbock appraiser and Tech alumnus. "On the other hand, if it isn't broken, why fix it?"
W.B. "Dub" Rushing, a long-time Tech contributor, said he had no problems with the changes as long as they were for a positive reason.
The school has weathered strong reactions to other changes, such as a proposal to call the school Texas Tech and the recent revisions on the Double T logo, he said. But administrators should be careful about change for change's sake, he said.
"I don't see anything wrong with the present seal," Rushing said. "If it would only make the alumni mad, and that's where their gifts come from - all you have to do is kill off a dozen people and that could be $12 million."
More Tech faithful, including cotton farmers, would warm to the new design once they understood why the changes were being made, Chancellor Smith said.
The outcry Wednesday showed that people cared about the university, but the controversy was overblown, he said.
"A lot of people had a lot of extra time today," Smith said. "It was kind of ridiculous." OLD:
NEW:
To comment on this story:
elliott.blackburn@lubbockonline.com 766-8722
brian.williams@lubbockonline.com t 766-8717
Not just the cotton lobby, but anyone who understands and is loyal to Tech's heritage AND a continued important factor in the present.
Unbelieveable. I suppose pretty soon wearing cotton will be illegal too. How utterly silly.
I think we should just make all language illegal. Then no one will risk being offended by etymology or past history of use of any word.
Windy Man in the seal! Oh, that is all too funny.
well, there's actually 2 windy-men in the seal, no? and how come no one to wish hispana a happy Cinco? i should sue the university since i'm having to spend my Cinco FReeping and now drinking tequila like everybody else.....
 AN AMERICAN TRILOGY     |
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er, correct "now drinking tequila" to NOT drinking tequila.....
your graphics didn't come through....
Feliz Cinco de Mayo para usted!
Felicitaciones y buena suerte!
I betcha that's the real reason for the change.
gracias very much.
Es un gran placer!
Hit "Refresh" - looks OK here & audio is fine too
Your 2nd graphic of the new TT seal seems to hve blinked out at top
Could be FR software -
My servers have no bandwidth problems
I may put that post graphic on a new short webpage with the music
my graphic is back now.....i hope we're not breaking the internet again...
Some may be "hotlinking" your 2nd "new TT seal" graphic
Not that hard to upload into websites instead of hotlinking
I've noticied sometimes on FR I cannot get to "Forums" or "My Comments" in the last 14 months
But if I first go to "Mail" [FReepmail] it usually clears up
A software glitch I believe
Very good!
And, much improved!
Thanks! ;o)
Not that long ago, the popular Smith withdrew his nomination for a high academic post at, I belive it was, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which makes Austin seem "conservative."
Hey, TR, it's the first time I ever beat you to posting an AJ story.....but I had to get up pretty early.
Well, after a field is stripped there is always a bit of loose cotton here and there. Maybe local farmers colud gather that loos cotton and send it to Smith's office or cover his front yard with it. Hmm, maybe some of the local gins could work with the students to set up cotton bails on campus and have a rally for the bolls...
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