When Jesse Solomon began work on a logo for the Student Senate back in the spring of 2005 he had no idea that it would take until this spring to finally uncover the new design.
To the Senate and Solomon’s satisfaction, the hard work has finally paid off and will soon star across campus, notably for the forthcoming Senate elections.
“Working on behalf of Campus and Community Affairs last spring, I decided to launch some publicity initiatives to bolster our image and recognition amongst our student body constituents,” Solomon said. “This logo provides identity for the Senate and will be good for students to know what they’re all about.”
Several factors motivated Solomon, particularly last spring’s poor student turnout for SGA elections. As Vice Chair of Committee Affairs at the time, Solomon realized there was a serious problem sweeping throughout campus and something needed to be done.
“Of roughly 8,000 students eligible to vote, 328 students actually voted,” said Solomon.
“With that few voting, the student government needs to do a better job at representing ourselves.”
Considering the fact that there has never been a definite SGA logo at UMass Boston and only one other UMass campus has a resemblance of one (UMass Lowell), the task would not be simple. The creation of a logo would be require long hours and research in hopes of coming up with something symbolic and representative of the campus community.
“One of the most primary and basic initiatives was to develop a unique, professional, eye-catchy SGA logo which oddly enough had never existed at UMB,” said Solomon.
The Massachusetts state flag was a major influence in Solomon’s decision-making. The state flag contains a Native American in the center of a blue shield. A white star is in the upper left corner, whereas Solomon put it in the right corner, which represents Massachusetts as one of the original 13 colonies. The arm and sword on the state flag is replaced by the arm and gavel on the Senate logo, which swings above the shield. The latter represents the governing strength and unity of the SGA and the students. In place of the Native American, Solomon chose a beacon lighthouse in connection with the school’s athletic teams and mascot. Solomon shaped the symbolic lighthouse after the Boston Light, which is the oldest working lighthouse in New England.
After several months, Solomon revealed his newfound logo to the Senate in October 2005. Several Senators suggested small revisions and sent Solomon back to the drawing board. The minor criticism was aimed at the location of the arm and gavel image. Instead of taking it upon himself to decide, Solomon made a very Senate-like decision and created surveys to give out to students. Two hundred students were asked to choose one of three versions of the logo and 51% voted for Solomon’s original layout.
The hard work finally paid off on November 9th, 2005. Solomon returned with a finalized version of the logo and presented it the committee with the survey in hand and a few minor changes made. The committee approved the logo with a majority and sent it to the full Senate.
The Student Trustee, Fritz Hyppolite, believes the new logo will help both UMass and the Senate in a number of ways.
“The new logo gives the Senate a sense of identity,” said Hyppolite. “It’s a trademark that the Senate will be recognized for and will also help with promotion.”
Despite a busy schedule this winter, the Senate passed the logo. Now, with the support of the Senate, Solomon’s efforts are ready for action.
Kuda Mutamba is the Chair of CCA and is excited to finally have a unique symbol for the Senate.
“It seems that no one knows about the Beacon and the Senate,” said Mutamba. “This logo is going to help increase school spirit and bring a new face to the Senate.”
With the leadership of Mutamba and CCA member Amy Ajuonuma, the new logo will be used initially for this spring’s Senate elections in hopes of a widespread awareness.
“We’re trying to put this logo everywhere to say that we’re alive and well,” said Ajuonuma. “UMass Boston has changed from what it was. The logo was a good move.”
Now that the hard work and critiquing are finally over, the influence of UMass’ new emblem will be seen April 21st when elections end and the votes have been counted. With a bold new beacon for the Harbor Campus, last year’s dreadful voter turnout could very well be the low watermark for years to come.