What’s up with The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY? In a previous article of mine, I wrote about how my school has recently fell trap to the corporatization of higher education. To recap, we cut 28 academic programs and fired 23 professors on December 15th, 2015 due to a deficit that is still yet to be found by outside financial investigators. The majority of the programs that were cut were in the humanities and social sciences. Currently, the fired professors are trekking through the appeal process and students in cut programs either have a loose perception of the rest of their academic careers or have no clue what comes next. However, amidst these faulty administrative tactics, our higher administration has instilled a new marketing strategy.
At the first Student Association meeting of the semester, the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Saint Rose, Mary Grondahl, gave a presentation on the “re-branding” strategies at hand. There were two marketing strategies that were put before the Student Association (a collection of student representatives for the whole student body). One was “I am Saint Rose” and the other was “Home.” Both were created by Saint Rose graphic design graduate Scott Bartley and his marketing team in Manhattan, NY. Mary Grondahl presented to Student Association because she “recognized” the importance of having current students having a say on which we thought would be best. Most of us thought, “Home,” seemed too corporate looking. Many felt that, “I am Saint Rose,” allowed for more interpretation. However, it seemed like the decision was already made, considering there was extensive research that lead to these brands already. Throughout the fall semester, these two branding slogans were sent by survey to 6,000 high school sophomores in the Northeast region and across the country. These students overwhelmingly preferred “Home.”
And that was the one that was chosen in the end.
The night before the second Accepted Student’s Day of the spring semester, every light post was littered with the new branding banners. I couldn’t walk 50 steps without being hit with another one. I felt nauseated and violated by how seemingly desperate the banners came out to be. Our “re-branding” is selling an experience that isn’t really determined to be provided anymore. However, maybe most importantly, the majority of the banners were grammatically incorrect. Some of the signs are as follows: “Home. of Discovering Your Path.” or “There’s No Place Like Saint Rose.” or “Home. Of World-Class Academics.” or “Home. Of An Experience Like No Other.”
I wish I could click my heels three times in hope of escaping this nightmare. But, if I did, I would end up right back at the deteriorating Saint Rose before me.
I am part of the “Passion. Knowlege. Purpose” generation of Saint Rose branding. It was simple, pure, and left me room to interpret my own Saint Rose experience. I was free to be the person that I aspired to be with the tools that Saint Rose could provide for me. But now, our advertising is treating incoming students like lost children. We are treating them like they come to college with blinders on and we are the ball pit they fall into. We are also feeding them the idea that this will be their home when perhaps, it may not be. It’s a manipulative form of advertising, and I don’t even want to imagine the students who may come here and feel like they have failed. Not because of the classes they may not have passed, but because Saint Rose didn’t become their home. They will feel like they missed some detrimental piece of the Saint Rose experience if, god forbid, this isn’t the school or location that they can see their roots growing from. It's like having a parent tell you that this is your home because you grew up there, when that isn’t necessarily the case. You aren’t bound to a location because of the experiences you had there or if you physically grew there. See, a home is not what is thrust upon you, but what a person cultivates it to be.
We are forcing a home on students that may not have experienced or know what a home is like prior to college. We aren’t advertising that we are a prestigious institution with a rich curriculum with a drive to make a difference. We aren’t even touching base on the fact that we are a college or even offer programs. If anything, we are advertising that at Saint Rose you can kick your feet up, get a bag of chips, and enjoy the ride. But, I came here with purpose. I filled up my well of knowledge. I continue to have passion. “PKP” made this institution a home for me when I didn’t know what a home was before. So, yes, the new re-branding is grammatically incorrect but there is something larger at stake here. Let’s open our eyes to it and fight against it.
