St. Edward’s University athletic department has initiated a study that could lead to changes in the university’s athletic identity.

The athletic department sent out an email to select groups of students, stating they are “investigating an update to its Athletic Identity.” 

The department is considering changing the two-dimensional Hilltopper art and university name on athletic uniforms.

Athletic Director Debbie Taylor said that the current logos are not effective because they are not distinguishable from a distance.

“You can imagine, especially if they are embroidered, you can’t go very small, because then you can’t even tell what it is,” Taylor said. “We are not wanting to get rid of the goat, the logo, you know, the Hilltopper. We don’t want to change anything like that.”

Questions in the survey asked students their opinions of the Hilltopper’s identity, what they prefer in a mascot design and why other university or professional team logos appeal to them. The purpose of the questions was to determine if current students identify with the university’s logos and to find out if an updated, refreshed look is necessary.

The survey went to all student athletes, and various students in leadership positions, including the Student Government Association, orientation leaders and residence assistants. Although the outcome of the survey has not been announced yet, there was about a 50 percent completion rate.

Taylor said that there will not be a big reveal if minor changes are made. The new logo would slowly be implemented over a long period of time; however, if major changes are made it will take over a year for those changes to take effect.

“It’s something you don’t want to rush. You want to make sure you cover all your bases, because you hope not to do it again for a long time,” she said.

The conversation has been going on for years, Taylor said. In the ‘90s, there were over a dozen different types of goats that were used around campus. A committee, including the Dean of Students and alumni, with the help of a consultant came up with the current Hilltopper logo.

Kinesiology major Matt Dechant agrees that St. Edward’s athletic identity isn’t clear.

“It feels like our athletics’ logo is all over the place. It seems that there is a different logo for every practice shirt, jersey and coach’s shirt for every team. A more unified look would improve our identity.”

The athletic department is also looking into having more than one logo that can be used for different reasons. One example is Campus Recreation, which has been primarily using the hoof logo.  

The athletic department still needs to examine the results of the opinion poll, and depending on the results, changes may or may not happen.

“It’s just investigating whether or not we do need to make some change, it’s not the fact we’re going out looking to make change,” Taylor said. “It could come back that we don’t want any change at all. We like what we got.”

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