The stoush over Victoria University's name rumbles on. Photo / Ross Setford.
The stoush over Victoria University's name rumbles on. Photo / Ross Setford.
COMMENT: It should come as no surprise Victoria University's "brand refresh" is practically a change of its name all but officially.
Yet leaders in the campaign against Vic's bid to be called the University of Wellington have been up in arms over the refresh, calling it a name change bystealth.
Earlier this year Victoria's chancellor and vice-chancellor fronted media saying they would not legally challenge the Education Minister Chris Hipkins' decision to reject its name change proposal and instead would adopt a new branding strategy.
To think that was the end of "University of Wellington" is short sighted.
After all, vice-chancellor Professor Grant Guilford put his full weight behind a case for the change, which was based on the university's current name being confusing at an international level, meaning they were missing out on millions of dollars in revenue each year.
The cost of the refresh is in the order of several hundred thousand dollars, mainly made up of design and legal trademark protection costs.
Vice-Chancellor professor Grant Guilford has been a strong proponent for change. Photo / Sarah Ivey.
Those opposed to the name change were swept up in celebration at the time of the university's decision not to pursue a legal change.
But when the decision was announced at a press conference in May, details were also revealed about the brand refresh, indicating just how extensive it would be.
Guilford told reporters it would involve "flipping" the names Victoria and Wellington.
He was specifically asked at the time what that would mean for the likes of Victoria Business School and Victoria International and whether the name "Victoria" would be replaced by "Wellington".
"Those are things that could happen, we haven't worked through those sub-brand questions yet, but if you take the business school for example it could be the Wellington School of Business," Guilford said.
Victoria International might be called something like Wellington University International, he said.
"We've got about 40 of these names to work through now to try and find a way to make sure that when they are used, in the absence of the context of the wider university brand, that they stand on their own."
It was likely "Victoria" would not feature in those names unless the full name of the university was used, he said.
Chancellor Neil Paviour-Smith said there was no extended legal process to finalise the brand refresh.
"The university has the ability to deal with how it presents its brand, be that font size, type set, colour, the order of words."
The man who started a 13,000-strong petition against the legal name change voiced his outrage at the branding refresh on Twitter this weekend.
Gwynn Compton said the name change had been rejected and discredited.
"Don't implement it by stealth or my next petition will be for your sacking", he said.
This is much more than just "emphasising Wellington" in the brand as was communicated then. It's a shameless slap in the face for the university community from a Vice Chancellor who clearly needs to go.
A press release issued earlier this year said the brand changes would be seen on the university's website, in external communications and marketing material and in the way the university formally abbreviates its name.
Its legal name would continue to be used on formal documents such as degree certificates and legal contracts.
