New corporate logo is a sellout

We have been infiltrated! Sound the warning bell! Too late . The paint is dry. Yes, more than likely the new CellularOne logo has found a permanent home on our McKale Center floor. The effort to halt the violation of the sacred collegiate atmosphere will be useless, but we may all learn a few lessons.

Lesson #1 (not new): The UA does not care about what the students want. They say they do. The Athletics Department "has moved slowly" because it "was concerned about what the public's reaction would be." The movement was slow enough to occur during the su mmer when the majority of the students would be gone, and the sun has baked our brains to the point that our best response is: "It means people want to be associated with our basketball team since we won the championship, so I think it's neat." People do like winners - maybe that is Lesson #2, or maybe Lesson #2 is that logic and critical thinking should be mandatory at the UA. But I don't see anyone painting logos on the softball field.

Lesson #3: Marketing sucks. Will a little logo really hurt anyway? Yes, it will. We will not know when the advertising will stop because the Athletics Department is aggressively pursuing these marketing ploys. Did anyone see the Casino of the Sun blimp? W hen is there enough advertising? Why don't we just name it the McDonalds Center? Who the hell is McKale anyway? Does he have any money?

Lesson #4: Money gets you what you want. I also want to know where the money is going. We don't even know how much money we will be getting because the paint will dry before the ink on the contract. One concerned student thought the money should also go t o other departments. Mr. Robin Hood should see Lesson #2, part A. Maybe if you win the Nobel Prize, you can have the Sigma Chemistry Department. The seediness of the whole deal makes me doubt the money is actually going to athletic scholarships, but we wi ll probably never know since we learned Lesson #1.

Lesson #5: (seriously now) This is a college. College is not the place for corporate corruption. College is an ideal place of education - mental and physical. As National Champions, our movements will be mimicked by the next National Champions. Please ret ain our dignity and pride as champions of athletes and academics, and scrape the logo off our face.

Jessica Yingling

Biochemistry Senior