5940 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3
Did you know that the University has an entire page on their website devoted to the branding of the university, and the official rules of using the UBC Logo? There is also a downloadable rulebook for the UBC Logo. The UBC letters sign at the intersection of University Blvd and Wesbrook Mall reminds us that the University is more than a place of learning. It is a brand that represents particular interests, funded and guided by particular investments in extractivism, commerce, and not simply in education.
The brand is also a reminder that there is a level of professionalism that we are all accountable to when acting as representatives of the university. As the brand rulebook states:
Think of our logo like it is something you are borrowing that is very precious to the owner—the owner being UBC.
This necessitates some fairly strong language around what is okay and not okay regarding the UBC logo.
Just as the brand is precious to the University administration, so is the value of being a member of UBC – we are encouraged to include our position at UBC when participating in events or projects that the university administration supports, and we can be disciplined for any wayward use of UBC if we deviate from the branding.
Read more about the letters and ways to think through this Site of Rupture.