Editorial: Tech's commemorative apparel
CT Editorial Board
April 27, 2007
Virginia Tech memorial merchandise has yet to legally hit stores or online locations, despite the short-lived prevalence of t-shirts bearing the Virginia Tech logo and memorial message on e-bay. Obviously the Virginia Tech Office of Licensing and Trademark Administration has been hard at work within these past two weeks dealing with requests from a number of advertising and apparel organizations wishing to honor the Virginia Tech tragedy. In addition to deciding who should be given rights to creating Virginia Tech memorial apparel, University Relations are also hard at work attempting to fight the production and distribution of unauthorized products not licensed by the university. In an interview with The Roanoke Times, Christopher Clough, the University Relations' director of marketing and strategic communications, said that the "important thing is we want to make sure this is done appropriately and, obviously, respectfully." As of Wednesday, Hokies United, a student organization here on campus, was the only group authorized to create t-shirts. The university is currently in the process of negotiating with two major manufacturers trying to produce apparel with the Tech ribbon logo. According to The Roanoke Times, "Anything with April 16--that is not something that we want to have on any apparel," Clough said. "We really believe strongly that we do not want to be defined by that day or have that become shorthand for the tragic event." Companies with licenses must submit design product ideas to the Office of Licensing and Trademark Administration.
The push for commemorative apparel occurred late last week, in the days following Monday's tragedy. Not just students, but faculty, Virginians and even those nationwide are looking for a way to show support for the horrific tragedy that occurred on our campus. It is good that the Tech Licensing and Trademark Administration is making a serious effort to keep people without a license from producing t-shirts just to make quick money. No one but the families of the victims should be making profits off of this memorabilia. On that same note, the university needs to be careful with trying too hard to control the message. They should not be solely responsible for restricting the message that will be displayed on apparel. The fact that the office is controlling the production of memorabilia, is a good thing as it keeps people from unfairly profiting off of our pain. The use of the date, 4-16-07, while deemed inappropriate by the university, could serve as an important design for those who feel that last Monday's events were in fact a defining event in their lives. 4-16-07 is a date that none of us will ever forget. Keeping it off of shirts and apparel will not erase our memory of that day's events. Nonetheless, the university should have the ability to control the product without having to worry about personal profiteering.