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Identity Crisis

UPEI struggles to choose its image

by Sarah K. Murphy NEWS EDITOR

The thirty-one year old University of Prince Edward Island is faced with an identity crisis.

At a January 14" Senate meeting, alengthy debate arose over the use of UPEI’s Coat of Arms and its more modern logo.

“Tt is only a part of the larger discussion [about identity],” said Dr. Paul Boudreau, Psychology Professor and member of Senate. “We want to make that [identifier] something the community can be proud

of.”

university

The Coat of Arms, which proudly adorns the walls of a number of campus buildings, was replaced in 1997, by the current U-logo, on most UPEI letterheads, business cards, and web pages. This logo, designed by McArthur Thompson and Law Inc., was conceived as part of a strategic marketing campaign and as a recruitment tool in which UPEI reportedly invested 8000 dollars. This

new

identifier was to provide the university with a more consistant image.

“The intention was never to replace the Coat of Arms,” said

Suzanne Copan, Manager of Marketing

and

ECA ELIE UP aT PT UL

Coat of Arms?

PU ITH

Communications at

Advancement Services. The university, added Copan, was simply

looking for an identifier which was more readily recognizable, unlike the Coat of Arms which can also be difficult to reproduce.

“The real point of the discussion,” said UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan, “was the

desirability of

emphasizing and embracing the University’s heritage.”

Boudreau believes UPEI should take better advantage of its historical context in representing itself

nationally. In

and his the

official

regionally

opinion,

university's Coat of Arms offers an effective way of doing so. According to Boudreau, it (The Coat of Arms) is therefore better suited

for university documents, along with the UPEI

calendar, web pages, business cards, instead of the U-logo.

“It [the Coat of Arms] reflects the historical narrative which predates UPEI,” said Boudreau. This the

university from

lack

would set apart institutions which UPEI’s history.

A number _ of Senate members in attendance at this meeting believe that UPEI’s Coat of Arms, gives a better

reflection of the

IDENTITY

continued on page 4

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