Rao calls for public forum on wordmark

CMU will host a forum in the fall to decide whether the university should implement the new wordmark following public outcry against it.

“It became quite clear after it was announced that there was a lot of interest about the new wordmark,” said Mike Silverthorn, Public Relations and Marketing executive director. “Because of all of that, (University) President (Michael Rao) decided to hold off on implementation.”

Public Relations and Marketing Senior Officer Rich Morrison, who oversaw the wordmark process, is on vacation.

“The date, time and location of this forum will be announced in August,” Rao wrote in his periodic update #22, dated Monday.

Rao deferred all comment about the wordmark to Silverthorn.

Although Rao did not receive any telephone calls about the wordmark, he did get some electronic feedback, Silverthorn said.

“The president didn’t get a lot of e-mail — he received one positive and one negative.”

In addition, Rao also read some of the posted feedback to CM LIFE’s July 24 story, “University spends $12K on new logo,” on the newspaper’s Web site, www.cm-life.com.

Students, alumni and others blasted the university administration for not involving students in the logo process, the $12,000 CMU spent on wordmark and the simplicity of the design.

As of Tuesday night, there were at least 81 posts to the story — almost all of which were against the new logo.

“(Rao) was aware of those resources, yes,” Silverthorn said. “It’s all part of the discussion process.”

On July 25, CM LIFE’s Web site received 24,260 hits — the second largest total since the newspaper began recording the information 18 months ago. The site also received 23,174 hits on July 24, the day the story was published.

“I think (Rao has) always been a president who takes feedback from the campus community into consideration. I think it was a natural thing for him to do,” Silverthorn said.

Central announced July 22 it would change from the Warriner Hall logo the university has used for 13 years to the new wordmark that features the letters “CMU.”

Although people see a variety of logos on campus — the Warriner logo, the CMU seal, the block “C” on ashtrays and the new wordmark, CMU is not going through a graphic identity crisis, Silverthorn said.

Silverthorn said it is difficult to estimate the total cost of implementing the new wordmark on building signage, stationery, business cards, banners, letterheads, vehicle logos and bookstore logos.

“I think if it came to that, we would have to come up with some choices,” he said.

Use of the Warriner Hall logo — which cost CMU $15,000 to create — has decreased, Silverthorn said.

“There’s a feeling that it does not represent CMU now as it once did then, in 1989,” he said.

A new wordmark always is controversial, Silverthorn said, and not everyone will agree on it.

Critics of the new wordmark also say that in other parts of the country “CMU” stands for Carnegie Mellon University, located in Pittsburgh, Pa. — not Central Michigan University.

“I don’t think Carnegie Mellon uses the words ‘CMU,’ except on their Web site,” Silverthorn said. “We own the trademark for ‘CMU’.”

Central hired the Fahrenheit Group of Okemos to create the new wordmark, but did not initiate a bid process.

The university is supposed to go through a bid process for any expenditure between $2,500 and $24,999 unless specifically exempted, according to Purchase Service’s policy online at www.purch.cmich.edu.

“I did not have any knowledge of the wordmark project, or know anything about how much the project cost until reading about it last week in CM LIFE,” said Purchasing Services Director Tom Trionfi. “There was no request submitted to my office for a bidding exemption on the wordmark project.”

Silverthorn said he did not know if CMU violated its policy by not bidding on the wordmark work or not asking for an exemption.

“I can’t give you a good answer on that,” Silverthorn said.

CMU feels comfortable with the Fahrenheit Group, and has worked with the company on other projects, such as the Center for Applied Research and Technology, he said, which may be a reason why CMU did not bid on the wordmark.

“If we would have gone to a different company, there would have been a lot of research going on,” Silverthorn said.

So far, the new wordmark has appeared on Central’s Web site and a classified advertisement in the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun.

“You may see it out there from time to time. … It’s not the official wordmark,” Silverthorn said.

Online Editor Jerry Hoffman contributed to this story.