What will the nickname be

[bbtds]

I completely forgot that Beacons were an option!!!

Zero votes for Beacons.



If you are living in darkness, fear the Beacon!!!!!

[valpopal]

Athletics uses the shield as logo again today to kick off the soccer season! Looks great! Lose the lesser logos with lighthouses and lanterns!


[tweet]1426264351623819277[/tweet]

[valpo64]

Stop showing the new artwork/logo...it keeps getting worse and worse. I am still having a bad time seeing the low-end, poor quality, cheap looking junk artwork that has sprung off of the new name.   For crying out loud, the logo for Ivy Tech is better that our new look.  I have seen better artwork/design work for summer day-camp t-shirts than this junk that Valpo now embraces.  Pardon my language, the new name is bad enough...but the accompanying logo design/artwork is disgusting and embarrassing...crap!

[vu72]

Guys, it does not matter one bit if Rokita is a clown or if the investigation is politically motivated or has merit. You are very much missing the point. I largely agree with you about the investigation's likely motivations and its necessity. 

Though, Rokita really has not "claimed" or said anything as it relates to Valparaiso University specifically that is not a matter of absolute fact. Confucius Institutes are indeed alleged to function as a propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including by the U.S. State Department, which recently and officially designated these institutes as "foreign missions" to the CCP.

Valpo also does have a Confucius Institute. And Valpo has received over a million dollars from the CCP to host this institute, yet apparently the school has not disclosed how the money was used. I would be very curious to know whether or not there was some obligation to do so. At the very least, not having done so ultimately served to invite this unfortunate investigation.

The school would have been far better off, though, realizing that opinion has very obviously shifted in recent years on colleges and universities hosting Confucius Institutes and discontinuing its own.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the other organizations in China with which other colleges and universities may or may not have relationships with. I'd be interested to learn more about what these organizations might be, though. Please explain.

As Valpopal's and my previous comments indicate, the only thing which truly matters here is the very bad publicity the announcement of this investigation has given Valparaiso University. Many observers, particularly those unfamiliar with Valpo, will not be as willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a school they have no direct knowledge of or allegiance to. Some will not understand or consider that Rokita seems to be something of a partisan.

And to others, it will surely be far more interesting to think some small, religiously affiliated university in the midwest, of all places, has elements that are operating as a "front" for the CCP -- one of the greatest human rights violators in the world today (e.g. genocide, involuntary organ-harvesting).

And the headlines associated with the announcement of this investigation will give these individuals plenty of fuel for that fire. For instance, the headline from nwi.com, which reads, "Indiana attorney general investigating whether Valpo institute is front for Communist Party."

Generally speaking people only read the headlines anyway, not the articles, and especially not the follow-up articles, if these even end up being written. And it is only in these follow up articles that it would be explained to readers that the original headline and story were essentially a waste of everyone's time.

Furthermore, this is all developing at what was an already tumultuous time for Valpo given its ongoing financial difficulties; the controversial decision to retire the Crusader nickname; the controversial choice of "Beacons" as the replacement; and then, the subsequent fiasco with the logo.

Essentially, coming on the heels of the university having unintentionally but nonetheless marginalized many members of its community with the business regarding the nicknames and logo, the broader reputation of the school is now going to take something of a hit because of the announcement of this investigation, spurious or not.

The effects everything related to this investigation will have remain to be seen, but it would be foolish to think this is not another very unfortunate development.

I am praying for Valparaiso University.

http://thestatehousefile.com/commentary-attorney-general-in-indiana-chooses-china-as-his-villain/

https://www.nwitimes.com/opinion/times-editorial-rokita-needs-to-explain-vu-probe/article_bcea97da-8658-55b0-8b4b-005c8e443d7a.html

[valpopal]

Unfortunately, the Confucius Institute story continues to spread bad publicity for the university as it circulates through the national media, including this week in the Washington Times:


[tweet]1427613727373811728[/tweet]

[Valpo Joe]

WE are FREAKIN' BEACONS 

[vu72]

http://www.valpotorch.com/news/article_7920ed6e-0157-11ec-97b7-236d9f69e888.html?fbclid=IwAR3e_fyoX5sS_Wtqt8G_0eBd-jFznZ4tvwXAWSqq_MjMAJjyBbxJEGYQ078

LaBarbera said. "One thing I tell people is there will not be a lighthouse with legs walking around."

[VUBBFan]

The next thing up is the Mascot. According to the Torch issue the person in charge of the selection is Steve Janowiak.
following are quotes from the Torch article:


In addition, Mascot Recommendation Chair Steve Janowiak said that the Valpo Shield will still be a part of VU.

"The shield is still a symbol at the University. It's been around for a while and it's going to stay around,"  Janowiak said.

Although the current logo for the Beacons, a lighthouse, will remain the primary design, Janowiak noted that variations are in the works.

As the school year is set to begin, creating a new mascot will be a task that administration will bring students into as a collaborative effort.

"The mascot is going to be something we ask the students to really participate in choosing or designing," Janowiak said. "[We'll] probably ask students with creative majors like art and other areas to be involved in this. Right now, we have something going for the indoor courts."


So does these mean there will be no Alumni input, but the people responsible for the initial Logos are going to be the main factors in choosing the Mascot?

[valpopal]

Although the current logo for the Beacons, a lighthouse, will remain the primary design, Janowiak noted that variations are in the works.

Steve Janowiak is a great guy, but the lighthouse cannot be the primary design!

[valpopal]

"I would tell everybody that when they see the Arena Floor, it's gonna look like the football field or the baseball field. In the middle of it, there's going to be the shield with 'Valpo' over the top of it. We're going to see consistency in the way our facilities look," LaBarbera said.


This is great news and the consistency I have been supporting all along. I would like to see this thinking spread across the university. The logo on the football and baseball fields, and soon to be on the basketball court, is sleek, sophisticated, and well-liked. Don't divert from it with images of lighthouses!

[valpo64]

Can I hear a big Aaaaaaaaa-men for AD  Mark LaBarbara for his support of the Shield and nevermind the "Beacons" as far as athletics and team ID's are concerned.

[nkvu]

The next thing up is the Mascot. According to the Torch issue the person in charge of the selection is Steve Janowiak.
following are quotes from the Torch article:


In addition, Mascot Recommendation Chair Steve Janowiak said that the Valpo Shield will still be a part of VU.

"The shield is still a symbol at the University. It's been around for a while and it's going to stay around,"  Janowiak said.

Although the current logo for the Beacons, a lighthouse, will remain the primary design, Janowiak noted that variations are in the works.

As the school year is set to begin, creating a new mascot will be a task that administration will bring students into as a collaborative effort.

"The mascot is going to be something we ask the students to really participate in choosing or designing," Janowiak said. "[We'll] probably ask students with creative majors like art and other areas to be involved in this. Right now, we have something going for the indoor courts."


So does these mean there will be no Alumni input, but the people responsible for the initial Logos are going to be the main factors in choosing the Mascot?

How about this for a mascot. A killer bee dressed up in prison garb and you have a BEE CON!  (Have to credit my wife for that one)

[valpopal]

Unfortunately, the Confucius Institute story continues to spread bad publicity for the university as it circulates through the national media, including this week in the Washington Times:


[tweet]1427613727373811728[/tweet]

Update: Valparaiso University will close the Confucius Institute and hopes to open a new program in the future without any funding or staffing from China.

[usc4valpo]

How about Beacor from the Muppet Show as our mascot?

[IndyValpo]

How about Beacor from the Muppet Show as our mascot?

Other than you misspelled his name and he has nothing to do with a Beacon and the cost would be prohibitive I think he is a great choice.

[78crusader]

From where I sit, the VU Board of Directors - and the other folks who run this place - have been reactive instead of proactive.  Their inability or refusal to consider what is going on right in front of them, and adapt/make changes, has cost our school a loss of prestige and damaged our reputation.

Example #1- most schools had dropped Confucius Institutes over the last several years.  VU did not.  Why?  Didn't it occur to the Board, and others, to look into the reasons why just about everyone else was jettisoning these Institutes?  Thanks to this lack of foresight, we have endured another cycle of negative news coverage - including today's announcement that VU is closing the Institute.  I'm no PR expert, but I don't think a university would ever want a headline that contains the word "closure."

Example #2 - the law school. An ongoing PR disaster, it was evident 12 years ago that law school enrollment was dropping - and fast - everywhere.  Yet VU had about the same number of kids in the law school.  Why didn't the Board, and others, stop and question what was going on? What was going on, it turned out, was that many kids were getting admitted who likely would not be able to pass the Bar exam. Low bar passage rates, probation, and then closure, followed. 

Paul

[wh]

Unfortunately, the Confucius Institute story continues to spread bad publicity for the university as it circulates through the national media, including this week in the Washington Times:


[tweet]1427613727373811728[/tweet]

Update: Valparaiso University will close the Confucius Institute and hopes to open a new program in the future without any funding or staffing from China.

Good to hear. The last thing the university needed was more bad publicity on top of the Crusader debacle. Now, if President Padilla can put his petulant children in professor costumes in their place and keep them from burning the place down, maybe Valparaiso University can head north for a change.

[vu72]

From where I sit, the VU Board of Directors - and the other folks who run this place - have been reactive instead of proactive.  Their inability or refusal to consider what is going on right in front of them, and adapt/make changes, has cost our school a loss of prestige and damaged our reputation.

Example #1- most schools had dropped Confucius Institutes over the last several years.  VU did not.  Why?  Didn't it occur to the Board, and others, to look into the reasons why just about everyone else was jettisoning these Institutes?  Thanks to this lack of foresight, we have endured another cycle of negative news coverage - including today's announcement that VU is closing the Institute.  I'm no PR expert, but I don't think a university would ever want a headline that contains the word "closure."

Example #2 - the law school. An ongoing PR disaster, it was evident 12 years ago that law school enrollment was dropping - and fast - everywhere.  Yet VU had about the same number of kids in the law school.  Why didn't the Board, and others, stop and question what was going on? What was going on, it turned out, was that many kids were getting admitted who likely would not be able to pass the Bar exam. Low bar passage rates, probation, and then closure, followed. 

Paul

Don't disagree on the PR disaster.  Having said that, what was the answer they should have come up with a dozen years ago?  "So law school enrollment was dropping--and fast--EVERYWHERE"
So Valpo lowered admissions standards.  What should they have done?  Serious question.  We certainly couldn't raise them. The law school was just mediocre for a long time.  Perhaps 40 years ago they should have really tried hard to attract top law professors but we were a small Lutheran niche school.  We never could compete with IU or Notre Dame or the University of Chicago or Northwestern for top flight law professors.
So finally, we hit a wall. Fewer GOOD students being sought by ALL the law schools.  It is kinda like half the top flight basketball players in high school died from COVID or perhaps decide they want to play hockey instead, yet all the D1 programs want them.  Do they go to Duke or Valpo?  What am I missing?

[Just Sayin]

Confucius say: "Mind like parachute, only function when open."

Confucius should have provided a caveat: "Open mind too far, brains fall out."

Such is modern liberalism in universities and everywhere in the post-modern, woke's conformity to the winds and fads of the world in which we live.

[IrishDawg]

Confucius say: "Mind like parachute, only function when open."

Confucius should have provided a caveat: "Open mind too far, brains fall out."

Such is modern liberalism in universities and everywhere in the post-modern, woke's conformity to the winds and fads of the world in which we live.

Clever? advertising there by the Chicago Locksmiths, though I'd be interested to know what their reasoning is behind it.

[bbtds]

Confucius say: "Mind like parachute, only function when open."

Confucius should have provided a caveat: "Open mind too far, brains fall out."

Such is modern liberalism in universities and everywhere in the post-modern, woke's conformity to the winds and fads of the world in which we live.

I'm extremely upset that you included a quote about brains falling out and a picture of JFK. Did you think about that at all? Talk about poor decisions.

[wh]

"I would tell everybody that when they see the Arena Floor, it's gonna look like the football field or the baseball field. In the middle of it, there's going to be the shield with 'Valpo' over the top of it. We're going to see consistency in the way our facilities look," LaBarbera said.


This is great news and the consistency I have been supporting all along. I would like to see this thinking spread across the university. The logo on the football and baseball fields, and soon to be on the basketball court, is sleek, sophisticated, and well-liked. Don't divert from it with images of lighthouses!

bea·con
/ˈbēkən/
Learn to pronounce
noun
a fire or light set up in a high or prominent position as a warning, signal, or celebration.
"a chain of beacons carried the news"
BRITISH
(often in place names) a hill suitable for beacon of fire or light.
"Ivinghoe Beacon"
a light or other visible object serving as a signal, warning, or guide at sea, on an airfield, etc.

A beacon is a fire or light. It isn't a lighthouse any more than a bulb is a flashlight. The flame in the shield logo represents the guiding light concept beautifully, almost poetically. Great logos don't smack you in the face with obvious, superficial symbolism. They're designed to make you think bigger, broader. The shield accomplishes that perfectly. It is spiritually and intellectually inspiring.

[vu84v2]

I can't say that I have had a favorable opinion of "Beacons", but I really like the way that wh frames the meaning of Beacons and its connection to the shield. That works!

[valpopal]

Momentum grows as the alternative beacon logos created by Brian Flynn are featured in The Torch:
http://www.valpotorch.com/eedition/page_5b2f1a7c-6a4b-53ae-8564-74c12bdb1755.html

[valpo64]

When one has to think about how a new name or logo fits into a school's persona, you know immediately that the name and logo are a problem.   The ID and recognition should be immediate identification of the school.