One Linfield student is taking his discontent with Linfield’s new slogan and drafting it into a proposal likely to go to administrators.
Junior Craig Geffre said “The Power of Small” is misrepresentative of Linfield as a whole and that his proposed slogan, “The Power of Community,” better evokes the Linfield spirit.
“I felt like this actually resonated with what we were trying to communicate with ‘The Power of Small,’ but it goes beyond small and implies a lot more about what we have at Linfield,” Geffre said. “I think ‘small’ infers that we’re a small college that can do great things, but community takes that next step and says we’re not only small, but we have something important because we are a small college.”
In the proposal, Geffre explains that “The Power of Small” may be ridiculed and used as innuendo. But Geffre said he understands how the branding company arrived at that slogan.
“While BrandNav has put forth a tremendous effort, and it is clear as to why this slogan was crafted, it fails to encompass the dynamism of the college and has not resonated with a broad selection of students, alumni, faculty, staff and other friends of the college,” the proposal states.
Geffre presented his proposal at the Senate meeting May 3.
Associated Students of Linfield College President junior Colin Jones said he encouraged Geffre to bring the proposal to the meeting.
“I invited him to present his proposal to Senate because I thought it was a well-reasoned and articulate approach to a concern he had — a concern that appears to be shared by a number of other students,” Jones said in an e-mail. “There’s a good chance the Senate will support Craig’s proposal, but it should be thought of as just that, a proposal.”
But at the May 3 meeting, Jones said the brand is unlikely to be radically altered.
He said that the administration may consider changing the slogan to “The Power of a Small College” or something similar.
“To my understanding, they want to keep the idea of the power of a small college as the identity, but it’s still not decided how the wording on that will be,” Geffre said.
Jones said this is not unexpected.
“I don’t think anyone is surprised by the administration’s defensiveness, considering that one of their major initiatives, in which they have invested a lot of time and money, is being challenged from all sides,” he said in an e-mail. “Somewhat ironically, the brand is doing its job of unifying the Linfield community; students, faculty and athletics seem to have united in opposition to this re-branding.”
Geffre’s proposal may be tacked on to a faculty proposal and letter about the brand by Assistant Professor of Sociology Rob Gardner, Geffre said. But he said he is still deciding the best way to proceed.
Kelley Hungerford
Managing editor Kelley Hungerford can be reached at [email protected]