Trinity University backs off new sunburst logo after fierce alumni backlash<\/a><\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
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Trinity University used Murchison Tower in its primary academic logo, top, from 2003 until July 2026. Its proposed replacement, bottom, features a 24-ray geometric sunburst. Trinity paused the rollout after officials acknowledged that their redesign process failed to anticipate alumni love for the tower.<\/p>\n
Trinity University<\/p>\n
From research to failed\u00a0rollout<\/p>\n
Trinity began researching a rebrand in April 2025. Leaders wanted a new look that would showcase the university\u2019s growth and appeal to prospective students. The project included a redesigned website, new messaging and visual elements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trinity, a private school enrolling 2,600 students, has declined to disclose what it spent on the redesign and did not provide a breakdown showing how many people participated in each phase or how their feedback affected the final design.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The university says more than 300 students, alumni, faculty members, employees and trustees offered input\u00a0across 19 focus groups and interviews, at least nine concept-testing sessions and at least a dozen presentations.<\/p>\n
Evelyn said about 75 alumni participated in focus groups, interviews, concept testing and presentations before the launch. All saw the sunburst or other concepts or were asked to evaluate them at some point, he said. Trinity counts more than 30,000 alumni worldwide, including more than 8,000 in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
The university also formed a group of 16 \u201cbrand ambassadors\u201d to gather and relay feedback from staff and provide updates about the redesign in preparation for the launch, Evelyn said. He added that the number involved in the yearlong\u00a0rebranding effort was likely higher than the university\u2019s estimate of 300.<\/p>\n
Evelyn said feedback from a state of the university presentation and an anonymous form was largely positive. Some comments focused on the sunburst\u2019s shape, but he said no emails received before the July 30 launch\u00a0urged Trinity to reject it.<\/p>\n
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Trinity chose the sun because it has appeared on the university seal since 1870. Its 24 rays were intended to reflect campus architecture and distinguish Trinity from other colleges with tower logos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tower had its own detractors. University trustee April\u00a0Ancira previously said alumni had joked that it looked phallic. Poet Naomi Shihab Nye,\u00a0who graduated in 1974, recalled similar crude jokes and found the sunburst more memorable. Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, a 1999 graduate who teaches at Trinity, called the tower iconic and said he missed it, but cautioned that initial reactions to logo changes do not always last.<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s 29-member Board of Trustees, which serves as the governing body of the university, discussed the project in May and September 2025 and in February and May 2026. At the May 2026 meeting, trustees voted unanimously to endorse the full rebrand package, including the messaging, visual elements and new website. They did not vote separately on the sunburst.<\/p>\n
The 36-member Alumni Association Board, an advisory group that represents graduates and promotes engagement between alumni and the university, saw the rebrand in February and June 2026. The first presentation came about 10 months after the work began. Hensley said members saw Trinity\u2019s selected direction, not competing designs. The advisory board did not vote at either meeting, but Hensley said it was his impression that more members opposed the logo than supported it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe weren\u2019t given any choices,\u201d Hensley said. \u201cIt was like this is what we\u2019re going with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hensley said Trinity relied too heavily on people already close to the university, like staff members. He compared them to the inner rings of a\u00a0bull\u2019s-eye. Graduates outside those circles felt the logo had come \u201cout of left field,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evelyn acknowledged two shortcomings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably could have brought the alumni\u00a0board in sooner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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He also said Trinity misjudged the tower\u2019s importance to graduates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably underestimated the affiliation that so many of our alumni have for that tower symbol, and so that\u2019s why we\u2019re looking forward to continuing the conversation and thinking about how we can incorporate that feedback going forward,\u201d Evelyn said.<\/p>\n
Pressure builds<\/p>\n
Trinity publicly defended the logo July 31, one day after its debut.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe expected this,\u201d spokesperson Clinton Colmenares said at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult for some people, but this is something that\u2019s positive for the university, and we\u2019re behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the volume of negative feedback grew. From Friday through part of the weekend, Evelyn estimated that 100 to 120 messages reached him, Trinity\u2019s general inbox and other university addresses. Social media comments skewed heavily negative, Evelyn said.<\/p>\n
Evelyn said the Aug. 3 call with\u00a0Hensley and Poenisch influenced the university\u2019s pause. University leaders also weighed emails, social media posts, phone calls and other conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was all the feedback combined in different ways that it came in,\u201d Evelyn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Evelyn declined to identify who made the final decision to freeze the new logo\u2019s rollout or describe their discussions.<\/p>\n
Hensley said some major donors had encouraged Trinity to pause, but\u00a0Evelyn said he knew of no such requests. The marketing vice president said leadership acted on the broader response and said that many major donors remained supportive throughout the controversy.<\/p>\n
Alumni will shape next steps<\/p>\n
On Aug. 6, two days after the pause, about 25 of the Alumni Association Board\u2019s 36 members met with Evelyn and Michael Bacon, Trinity\u2019s vice president for\u00a0alumni relations and development. Hensley said at least 80% of the board had attended or provided feedback through the Aug. 6 meeting, emails or text messages.<\/p>\n
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This time, members sought a more direct\u00a0role in shaping the logo rather than reacting to a finished design.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Alumni Association needs to be in this from the beginning,\u201d Hensley said.<\/p>\n
Trinity plans to form a committee of alumni with professional experience in marketing, branding, design or related fields. The group will work alongside university officials to develop possible changes. Some alumni volunteered after contacting Trinity with feedback on the sunburst logo; officials identified other prospective members because of their expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work side by side with them to come up with whatever may be the next iteration,\u201d Evelyn said.<\/p>\n
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The working committee will remain separate from the Alumni Association Board. Evelyn said Trinity will keep the board involved and seek its response to new concepts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trinity has not assembled the committee, set a timetable or selected who will\u00a0execute another design. Its partnership with E&A Collaborative, the firm that created the sunburst and other visual elements, is complete, Evelyn said.<\/p>\n
The university also has not decided whether to modify the sunburst, restore the tower or pursue an entirely different design.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe don\u2019t want to presuppose anything with that group,\u201d Evelyn said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Murchison Tower rises above Trinity University\u2019s hilltop campus in San Antonio. University officials said they underestimated how strongly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-403086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}