Winthrop’s new logo no longer features Tillman, students think it’s moving Winthrop forward
The familiar blue and white etching of Tillman Hall is no longer Winthrop University’s logo. On Feb. 22, President Daniel Mahony unveiled a new logo that is a part of Winthrop’s rebranding initiative.
Featuring a drawing of the gold eagle statue in the front of campus and an outline of the school’s academic shield, the new logo shows no semblance to Tillman Hall.
The lack of Tillman’s presence in the new logo seems significant, as the name of the administration building has caused controversy in the past.
In September of 2016, students held a sit-in in Tillman Hall, protesting the name of the building. The issue with the name of Tillman hall revolves around the man that the administration building is named after— Benjamin Tillman.
Benjamin Tillman was a South Carolina senator and governor who, according to the Winthrop website, was “an avowed white supremacist, architect of state Jim Crow laws and a violent advocate of lynch law.”
During the protest, students involved claimed that the name of the building was hypocritical to Winthrop’s strong message of diversity. However, due to a law in the state of South Carolina, Winthrop cannot change the name of Tillman Hall. The law states that any building or monument named after an historic figure cannot be changed without a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of the legislature.
Despite Winthrop’s hands being tied, students still pushed for small changes, such as taking Tillman’s name out of the alma mater and moving a historic statue called ‘Low Tides’-that was meant to symbolize the liberation of haitian refugees- into a different building. The efforts were only successful on the latter attempt.
The removal of Tillman from the logo seemed like a win for student activists, however administration has said that they removed Tillman from the logo for different reasons.
Mahony said that the depiction of Tillman was removed because the point of the new logo was to make Winthrop stand out, and that a clock tower is a generic logo.
“Almost every university has a clocktower and so many use it in their logo that it doesn’t distinguish you in any way,” Mahony said.
Katie Price, director of marketing at Winthrop, emphasized a similar reasoning.
“Getting rid of the clocktower was kind of a thing to try to get a mark that was a little more distinctive and a little more us. We all know of the clocktower and are familiar with it, but outside of Winthrop there’s a lot of other schools that have symbols with architectural symbols in them. There’s another Tillman tower at Clemson University, it’s not in their logo, but they still have one. So it didn’t really say anything truly unique about Winthrop so we wanted something that was a little more unique and distinctive,” Price said.
Some students also see the significance in removing Tillman as just a way to make the logo stand out. Jennie Montgomery, senior, said the removal of the tower was just a good way to help make the brand more consistent.
“I think the exclusion of the Tillman tower really helps in unifying campus. Transitioning from an academic logo to a campus wide brand helps in aligning the look of all aspects of our institution and increases affinity across the brand,” Montgomery said.
Others see the removal of Tillman from the logo as a step in the right direction in regards of making the legacy of racist people less prominent on campus.
“I believe there is some significance to Tillman being removed from the logo. Given the current political landscape, I hope that Winthrop sets an example for other institutions to separate themselves from the past and instead focus on what can be achieved in the future,” said Nolan Worthy, sophomore computer science major.
Isabella Rodriguez, a sophomore political science major, thinks having an eagle as the logo will be more unifying.
“I like that Old Main (Tillman) is no longer present because even though it is emblematic of Winthrop. It has a very negative connotation and represents a dark aspect of our history. I like that it’s specifically our eagle on the logo because it’s special to us and I find it to be unifying,” Rodriguez said.
Tadean Page, Council of Student Leader chair, said he sees the logo as a new chapter for Winthrop.
“I believe it is very significant and symbolic that Tillman is no longer the logo. For many, the old logo constantly reminded us of a form of oppression. I get the reality that history is history and we can’t erase that, but this new logo without Tillman signifies Winthrop’s focus on creating an atmosphere where every students feels safe, included and at home. This new logo represents a new day for Winthrop. A new chapter. I am just excited and honored to be a part of this change as we continuously aim to make Winthrop the best of the best,” Page said.
