Point/Counterpoint: Beveling the Texas A&M Seal

We learned Tuesday afternoon that the Board of Regents will meet on Wednesday to decide whether or not to add a beveled A&M logo to the official University seal. Obviously, this will have a drastic, immediate, and long-lasting impact on all things related to Texas A&M. Let's break it down.

NO BEVEL.

by Rush

This is an outrage. The Founders of Texas A&M did not brave religious persecution in England and fight through the wildernesses of half a continent just to have their bravery and hard work undone centuries later by a trendy and flashy font package feature.

Obviously, there are thousands of facts to substantiate the anti-bevel stance, and they have been generously and studiously compiled right here by TexAgs user Old Main in order to prove this very point: the bevel has no place anywhere near the Texas A&M logo and to even entertain that notion is sheer folly and worthy of ridicule, you two-percenter, New Army children.

I mean, what's next? Drop-shadows on the concession stand placards? Diffused glows on the ribbon boards? Comic Sans on our diplomas? This madness has to stop somewhere. We all know the world is changing rapidly around us, but if we forsake the traditional block logo--the very core of our most visible and beloved symbol--then certain anarchy is not far behind.

Board of Regents, before you cast that fateful vote tomorrow afternoon, we urge you for the good of this University; nay--the good of all the values that you claim to hold dear---do NOT give in to the temptations of the modern world. Keep the traditional logo and in doing so you will cement your legacy as one who has helped preserve our very culture.

GIG 'EM.

PRO BEVEL.

by Chuck

Finally, Texas A&M is leaving prehistoric times and entering the modern era.

By staying entrenched in its traditions, A&M is constantly at risk of losing touch with the times and the desires of current students. Two-dimensional seals may have been good enough for the Aggies of yesteryear, but did you know that students of today are three-dimensional? Yes, today's Aggies go to class, play football, hang out at the bowling alley, and even sleep in three dimensions! They need a seal that can at least give the appearance of existing in three dimensions with them. The bevel accomplishes this task nicely.

Not only that, but the beveled seal is part of Texas A&M's continuing efforts to become more environmentally responsible, which is in keeping with the times as well. Researchers in the College of Engineering have determined that the beveled logo is up to 9% more aerodynamic than the old-fashioned "T star" or "block T" logos. By affixing this new seal to fleet vehicles on campus, the school stands to save $3.2 MM per year in fuel expenditures and drastically reduce its carbon footprint. That's money that can be passed on to the student - in the form of a new Spanish Literature building that will add $5.48 per credit hour to tuition fees beginning in Fall 2015.

The football players are also faster when sporting a beveled logo.

Finally, the school will also save on printing materials. Thanks to the white space created by the bevel design, each printing of the seal requires 4% less ink. Now that might not sound like much, but that comes out to a savings of nearly 62,000 gallons of ink per year. As the proper A&M maroon color can only be created by ink made from brutally slaughtered humpback whales, this change will stop the senseless killing of dozens of whales per year.

This proposal by the Board Of Regents is definitely a necessary measure and in no way an effort to change things just for the sake of changing them so that bored bureaucrats with nothing else to do can pad their resumes and point to an actual change they made. It deserves the full support of the student body and every living former student.

Thanks and Gig 'Em!