Even fossils have a say on new university logo
I have read with bemusement the plan to "upgrade" the university’s — my university’s — image to be presented to the world. Forget, for a moment, the six-figure sum evaporated upon this project; or perhaps, don’t. So far, the proposed new design seems mostly to have been viewed askance, and indeed one correspondent in these columns likening the logo to a pair of bananas. It seems barely distinguishable from any number of glitzy commercial logos, each as evanescent as the next.
The only relief is afforded in the majority opinion, at least in recent Otago Daily Times surveys and correspondence columns, that the project should not proceed. The current symbolic representation, fusty and last-century as it may be to some, conveys gravitas, a university of long standing, the first in New Zealand, outward, not inward-looking. By way of example, a university of even longer standing, Harvard, has made only minor tweaks since 1644 in its college arms; they saw no need to "rebrand" and neither should we, the country’s senior university.
A university worthy of the name is driven primarily by scholarship, the pursuit of knowledge; cognisant and respectful of, but not subservient to, the tempora et mores of its surrounds. A nod, if I may, to John Eccles, who is the only Nobel Prize winner awarded for research actually done in New Zealand; you may guess at which university.
In writing as above, I may have revealed my status as a dinosaur; but even fossils can have a say.
The declaration that a university is Tiriti-led strikes me as perversely counter-intuitive. Even granting that the Treaty of Waitangi may be considered a valid and relevant document, it is a political document, as the name suggests. Last time I looked, universities were not meant to be aligned with political agreements, agendas, compacts or political ideology in general.
To be beholden to the North Atlantic Treaty, or to Austria’s declaration of "Everlasting Neutrality", or to the American Declaration of Independence would sound rather ridiculous as a university’s mission statement or declaration of intent. Soviet-era universities of course were aligned with a political agenda and suffered a certain reputation accordingly.
For a modern Western university it is important to be seen to be collectively free of such political entanglement and ideological strings.
It is hard to fully embrace Professor Ballantyne’s explanation (ODT, 17.3.23) of how the proposed new logo honours the Otago University’s past when there is no acknowledgement of the early Scottish settlers and their official supporters who founded New Zealand’s first university in 1869.
As outlined by Prof Ballantyne, the proposed new visual identity for the university certainly does have aspirational appeal: it does not, however, have historical clarity.
Wow, how to get offside with tens of thousands of graduates from the University of Otago in one easy lesson. The proposed new logo for the university will not only be an affront to most students past and present, but seems to be a dumb idea commercially; recognised worldwide for 153 years by its prestigious title it is now to be rebranded with a name meaningless to most of us, and for why?
Adding insult to injury the existing logo is to be downsized presumably as a forerunner to its eventual disappearance.
Potato, po-ta-to let’s call the cartoon off, or not
With hand on heart this is by far the most offensive cartoon your newspaper has ever published (ODT, 27.3.23). No-one respected the rights of free speech during Posie Parker’s short visit and certainly no-one respected the right of New Zealand women to listen to her point of view. There is a massive difference between the truth of the rally event in Auckland and what mainstream media have chosen to report.
Shame on Yeo for suggesting free speech was in any way respected. A huge backward step for women’s rights.
Congratulations for a "to-the-point" cartoon by Yeo. It sums up the situation perfectly.
Correctly, Immigration allowed Posie Parker to visit New Zealand. Quite rightly she was shut down.
She wasn’t harmed, she was simply not listened to. Why would we want to listen to her messages of intolerance? She quickly left the country and now is manipulating the media to incorrectly portray the event and New Zealand. This shows her true side as a political and social media stirrer.
BIBLE READING: You call me "Teacher" and "Lord" and rightly so, for that is what I am. — John 13:13.
A selection of reader comments from Otago Daily Times social media platforms.
Our health is priceless
It needs to be built to cater for the needs of an expanding population of Southland and Otago. Southland Hospital was built undersized.
Anne Crawford
It needs to be built for our future needs not just current. Well done mayor for standing up for Otago.
Jodie Shotton Monaghan
The real risk is that the contractors hired to build the thing will hike their prices and hold all us taxpayers to ransom.
Michael Gibson
So much for our new state-of-the-art hospital. Of course there are cuts. They want our healthcare centralised out of Christchurch so just make our main hospital another "Band-Aid hospital".
Leesa Stronach
They just think they can destroy what was promised to us here in Dunedin. Same old, anything below the Bombay Hills doesn't matter.
Chrissie George
Build the hospital we want and need; money over lives is wrong.
Dean Hohaia
If the current government has spent a truck-load of money on the health system and the health system isn't any better and in fact worse in a lot of cases, you've got to wonder where has the money gone?
Darren Holgate
Healthcare affects every economic background, this area is seeing more and more people relocating from the North Island. All three main hospitals are struggling and this is where you decide to penny pinch?
Barb Garr
