First up, the amount spent on developing the new logo, including the consultation was £19k, though I understand that this amount still stings to hear. The fact is, SUSU was not a much loved named by the entire student body – in the survey, the majority felt ambivalent towards it, they were uninterested. In workshops it was called childish and patronising. It did not represent a brand that students wanted to be a part of – some felt affectionate, some felt disaffected. Far from overnight, the consultation and brand review have been reported on monthly in all student emails, newsletters, workshops, even a talk explaining the rebrand that was live streamed by SUSUtv.

I agree, the library could be much better – but with all the money in the world, the Union couldn’t directly fix this, as the University runs the library. However, we have lobbied for months and months and as a result of that, this summer work is being done on the library to fix that problem as part of a series of improvement works based directly on your feedback that we’ve taken to the Library.

The rebrand is creating a lot of controversy right now, and I think it’s because I should have tried much harder to put it at the forefront of students minds – but it was not a decision made in isolation or taken at all lightly. Please do feel free to get in touch and share any more concerns and queries, and I’ll try to do my best to explain.

Ben Franklin
Union President