Administration: SIUC not 'So Ill'

It may seem harmless enough; A gray T-shirt, the shape of the state of Illinois and the five letters "So Ill." But what started as a simple fundraising effort by a registered student organization has turned into a controversy that has University officials talking about free speech and copyright infringement.

The American Marketing Association plans to start selling the shirts Friday despite Media and Communication Resources Executive Director Sue Davis' rejection of the design.

"There may be some people on campus who don't like it for some reason, but it's not their position to ban it," said Gordon C. Brunner, the group's advisor.

However, Davis said it is the administration's decision because the design infringes on University trademarks.

"If you look at what we have trademarked, we have the words Southern Illinois University, Southern Illinois, Southern Illinois Carbondale," Davis said. "All those things are trademarks, and when it's something you can show linked to the institution, it falls under that umbrella."

The shirt, which the group wants to sell to pay for a trip to a national convention in New Orleans, doesn't contain any of those exact phrases.

"It doesn't say SIU, doesn't show the dog, doesn't even say Carbondale on it," Brunner said. Director of Student Development Katherine L. Sermersheim said this an issue of free speech.

"If they pay for them on their own they can still get a permit and sell them on campus," Sermersheim said. "If something was so offensive and wrong it'd still be free speech and they'd be allowed to sell them. This is a laboratory of learning. It's a place of free speech and thought."

Jordan Pierce, the group's vice president of sales, said the University wouldn't allow them to print the shirt in its current form, but Davis was willing to work with them on a different design. Nonetheless, it's members wanted to stick with the design.

Pierce, a senior from Geneva studying marketing, said the group took the predicament to Brunner for advice. Brunner said he consulted with Marketing Department Chair Terry Clark before telling the group they should make the shirt without Davis' approval.

"He realized we needed to do this so we could go to New Orleans, but he also knew we weren't doing anything wrong," Pierce said. "Because of his backing, and the chair of the marketing department, we decided to go through with it."

Davis said she was concerned the logo would be misunderstood.

"They had something that said 'So Ill'," Davis said. "We talked about it and I said no we're not so ill. We're healthy, thank you very much. I know that was slang going back a few years ago, but our concern was a lot of people looking at the shirt wouldn't realize that."

Davis said she had other issues with the shirt. When she was originally shown the design, there was a generic paw print placed on the Illinois map in a spot that wasn't Carbondale.

"If you don't have our paw print, don't have the paw print located where Carbondale is; and the way that the type face is, you're not certain it's southern Illinois, then it defeats the purpose," Davis said.

Pierce said they had no problem removing the paw print, and in the version they are planning to sell, it isn't there.

Pierce said the group didn't want to represent the University, but to make something everyone in the region could wear to show people they were proud of being a part of the state's southern half.

"We wanted to make a shirt that would be placed in people's normal clothes rotation," Pierce said. "What we tried to do with this shirt, compared to what we did before, is the last few years it was more sports oriented. What we found is people aren't interested in that type of shirt, and if they are, 710 sells them for $5."

Pierce said the last few years the group has sold edgier, sports-related designs with no problems from administrators.

"Last year it was a dog with a basketball stepping on all the other mascots," Pierce said. "They were all mangled and broken at his feet. You don't see blood or that stuff, but you see some blue feathers. There wasn't any problem with that."

As a marketing professor, Brunner said the school shouldn't worry about shirts damaging its image.

"What you don't want is people saying I don't care about SIU," Brunner said. "I don't want an SIU shirt. That's the death of your school."

The shirts will go on sale Friday in front of Rehn Hall without University approval.

T-Shirts will be available for sale Friday in Ice Gray and Neon Pink. S, M, L, XL and XXL sizes are available at $10 each. Shirts are available in front of Rehn Hall or by calling (618) 559-0020.