Trinity College Dublin is re-branding an event which the Irish Times is covering in tedious and unnecessary detail.
In other news, a man drove into the gates of Trinity. I notified Mr. Waffle.
From: Me
To: Mr. Waffle
Subject: Cor
Man (68) arrested after car smashes through TCD gates.
In response:
From: Mr. Waffle
To: Me
Subject: Man (68) arrested after car smashes through TCD gates
That’s the gates of “Trinity College, the University of Dublin” to you.
Those of us who work here are (a) also deeply sick of the rebranding thing and (b) circulating scurrilous rumours (alas, probably untrue) about who the chap who drove into the gates may have been.
It’s odd how obsessively the Irish Times covers minor news from Trinity. It’s not as though they like us – most of the stories are in some degree hostile. But I suppose most of them went here and are now trying to show how they’ve grown out of it.
By the way, I think we are still allowed to give our affiliation as ‘Trinity College Dublin’ in our published work, since that’s what we’ve been using in academic contexts for ages, but the letterhead will have ‘Trinity College | The University of Dublin’ and so will the signs and things. I still don’t understand what the relationship between Trinity College and the University of Dublin technically is. I gather from more informed friends that they have different coats of arms and what is annoying those who are cross about the new logo is that it is a mishmash of the two.
I agree that it has received too much coverage. But, as a graduate, I have for years received bumph from the previous provost about “building the Trinity brand”. For a college that already had a pretty good reputation, surely the best way to improve that reputation is to make sure there is a high quality of graduates and postgraduates being released into the wild. To constantly harp on about branding and logos can only diminish the reputation and suggests a internal lack of confidence in ones own reputation.
Dot, it all seems to have died down for the moment anyhow. I await fresh excitement with bated breath etc. Temporary door is quite vile, isn’t it?
MT, so it would seem but we may yet be proved wrong, I suppose…