Ten With Ken (audio)

  Ken Steele completes his review of 12 higher ed rebrands in the past 2 years that sparked a backlash from campus stakeholders and alumni.   In part 1, we looked at half a dozen new visual identities that caused outrage, either because they were too crazy creative or deadly dull. https://youtu.be/khrMeE_hngs But there were also some competent rebrands that nonetheless met remarkable opposition, often because stakeholders were too emotionally attached to what they had before:   Western Sydney University (Australia): When its name changed from “The University of Western Sydney” in 2015, WSU also abandoned its 13-year-old logo, which featured a “bluebird” icon. Although the former logo felt pretty cool and corporate, students nonetheless had become emotionally attached to the bluebird, and launched a #SaveTheBlueBird campaign on Twitter. The new identity was more contemporary, and pretty conventional: a deep red shield with the letter “W”. Comedian Aamer Rahman mocked the expenditure for student audiences, but