Photo by Matt Hembree
By Will Murphy
Contributing Writer
Summer renovations have brought major changes to our campus. Larger projects such as the expansion of Stirlings and the library have greeted new and old students back to the Domain for another academic year. Not all projects are as large, and they have dwarfed a much smaller, yet more useful change: the new signage on campus. Now instead of squinting up at faded stone signs to locate Fulford or duPont Library, new students and visiting guests will have less time spent awkwardly squirming around campus, and figure out where they are going.
Connor McClain (C’19) enjoys the signs, stating that, “they look new and sleek.” Although very pragmatic on the University’s part, these signs have been met with less positive reviews. Some students see these signs as too bulky, taking away from the scenic beauty of campus. Others see the darkness of the signs as too contrasting to the light stone of the buildings, making them too noticeable.
“Sewanee yet again sells out the things that make us unique in favor of impressing people that we don’t like anyway,” says Chris Woolverton (C’18) in another, more opinionated argument.
In general, I find that signs are more effective if they are both noticeable and if they jut out. After all, they are meant to alert passing people of the name and purpose of the buildings on campus, so I think that less noticeable signs would be useless and a complete waste of money. Although there seems to be quite a bit of negative feedback from these signs, I think they make Sewanee easier to navigate while keeping our central campus as beautiful as it was before.
Hate the signs. Were people getting lost on campus? Prefer stone signs that match the buildings.