Saint Xavier University unveils a new logo for the athletic teams, and for the Shannon Center floor.
As some students may have noticed, there have been a few changes to SXU over the summer. One of them being the new SXU logo, and another, the refurbishment of the Shannon Center.
The logo change was due for some time now, as students and faculty have commented about its unaggressive appearance. The Shannon Center’s refurbishment, on the other hand, was a requirement of the logo change.
The earlier logo was a cougar, and, as Coach Robert Hallberg said, it was “A mild looking cougar, people compared it to a puppy dog with nice flappy ears, it didn’t look like a competitive type of cougar.”
Because our programs are based on competition, they wanted something more spirited and mean looking.”
The new cougar has more of a competitive aspect to it. “If you’re going to play against Saint Xavier, you’re going in for a battle; whatever the sport is, volleyball, soccer, we’re going to battle you, and I think that’s the image they wanted to create with the new cougar,” said Coach Hallberg.
Students generally received the new logo very well and with much enthusiasm. The mascot was also changed, and could be seen walking around the Warde Academic Center Building, and the surrounding area. Students could be seen taking pictures with the mascot, and, overall, were very pleased with the change.
The change in logo was the reason for the refurbishment of the Shannon Center, where the entire floor had to be remade to accommodate the new logo. This cost approximately $21,950. Nothing else was changed in the Shannon Center other than the floor.
According to Coach Hallberg, “The logo on the Shannon center floor gets the most attention due to where its placed at, not only for sporting events, basketball, volleyball, but also guest speakers, intramurals, and people walking on the track.”
“I think its a form of advertisement, there’s no better way to advertise that the logo has been changed, since the sight on campus that we see most frequently is the Shannon center floor.”
The changes weren’t only made to the Shannon center floor, but the courts were changed as well. The process took about four weeks due to layering and other processes required in the refurbishment.
Changes will also be made to how the words Cougar and Saint Xavier appear in print, and as Coach Hallberg says, “It’s not only the picture of the Cougar that’s being changed, it’s the logo of Saint Xavier in general.”
There seem to be no more refurbishments or projects planned for the Shannon Center, although other parts of the campus are outlined in Plan 2017, and will be completed as time goes on.
Students were sent a survey of possible logo options during the spring 2013 semester, and the entire redesign process was overseen by The Office of University Relations.
For the Xavierite Staff’s opinion on this issue, please see “Editorial: The Good, The Bad and the Scary-Makeover Edition” on page 4.
Robert Lachowski
News Editor
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