Letter to the Editor:
Have you seen my elm tree?

That’s a great new sign on I-95. It looks best at night when the bold letters of Rider are illuminated for those driving by. The plans for the signs on Route 206 and the campus entrances look equally great. Looking at the large letters representing our community on the proposed signs, I immediately thought of the snazzy new podium in the Bart Luedeke Center (BLC) Theater, the security vehicles and new business cards being issued. And let’s not forget the new folders, pens, binders and anything that has to do with Admissions.

Upon examining the uniformity of all the aforementioned items, it’s hard not to recognize something — or the lack of something — in this new symbol of Rider: the elm tree.

About a year and a half ago, during the Student Government Association (SGA)/ Student Entertainment Council (SEC) summer retreat, it was brought to the attention of our campus leaders that there had been a notion to get rid of our tree. The representatives of the student population voiced an outcry against such a movement. As an appropriate measure, a resolution was written, signed and then given to our president to inform him of the love and sense of identity we felt toward this tree, this symbol of our home away from home. In this resolution, it was also stated that the students would embrace a new symbol, but would like to be included in that decision-making process. We had felt our voices were acknowledged. How wrong we were.

Slowly but surely, I think everyone has noticed the changes appearing on our campus in an effort to “market” the University and the attempts to make it seem “more professional and modern.” What about pride? What about history? What about this word everyone has been throwing around as of late — “tradition”? How are we expected to have traditions if the subtle ones to which we adhere are taken from us?

It was wrong of the administration to think the students would not react to this. It was brought to the attention of anyone who attended the Student Senate meeting, which was held this past Tuesday, that marketing was moving toward a new graphic identity. It is my belief that they are not beginning the movement now, but that the momentum has already begun. To bring it to the students’ attention now, in what seems to be an act to appease us, is insulting.

If the University is as focused on “student centeredness” as the current administration proclaims, where is the students’ say in this marketing ploy? We are currently fighting for the tree, but not just as a symbol for our eventual alma mater. We are fighting for this tree as a symbol of the students’ voices and consent in the matters that affect us. Our voices are the roots that nourish and sustain student government and give credence to administrative decisions. Ignoring that fact would make Rider pride and “student centeredness” disappear along with our tree.

— Brian Rocks