New VUB slogan meets with criticism from students and staff

Before the end of his academic leave as rector of the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Paul De Knop is in the process of launching a new corporate identity for the school. But his ideas have met with criticism from students and staff, including the two candidates to succeed him as rector, writes Brusselnieuws.

'Open minds, endless possibilities' is the proposed new slogan of the VUB that comes with a new corporate identity and logo, according to a report in VUB student magazine De Moeial. The VUB's current green house style colour is to be replaced by blue (the colour of Ghent University and KU Leuven, the magazine points out). The designs will be presented during a VUB conference in late May.

Students immediately started a Facebook page against the new house style. The new rector candidates Caroline Pauwels and Viviane Jonckers are equally unsupportive of the new design, with Pauwels saying she regrets that the corporate identity was not established in consultation.

The two candidates agreed that it is better to keep the existing Latin slogan, 'Scientia vincere tenebras' (Science should help us see in the darkness), especially in these times of terrorist threats. "The slogan is in our genes," Pauwels told Brusselnieuws.