Standing taller

Approaching the busy corner of Euclid Avenue and Adelbert Road, there’s no longer any doubt where you are, not since giant new C-W-R-U lettering went up in January. The prominent sign is part of a larger rebranding effort that saw fresh CWRU banners hung from lampposts and Case Institute of Technology restored on the back wall of the Veale Convocation Center.

“Refreshing the ‘front doors’ to our campus lets folks know they’ve arrived at CWRU,” said Dean Tufts, the university’s Vice President for Campus Planning and Facilities Management. “And, importantly, I hope the new signage helps boost school spirit a bit.”

The effort sprang from a signage

study that concluded signs and emblems at campus entrances were often too small, uninviting, inconsistent, or even nonexistent — making it difficult to recognize campus boundaries in the hubbub of University Circle. The study resulted in a three-phase signage plan now unfolding.

Not every new banner is drawing raves. In a striking change, the university removed the ornate Case Western Reserve University lettering that graced a stone wall on the southeast corner of Euclid and Adelbert, in front of the Allen Memorial Medical Library. It was replaced by a bright blue plastic sign that has aroused some disdain.

“It’s just not aesthetically pleasing anymore,” a student complained to The Observer, the student newspaper. Another said a popular photo backdrop had been lost: “Every time my mom comes to visit, she always makes me take a picture in front of that sign, but I know she’s not going to want to take a picture anymore.”

Alumni have expressed appreciation for another change. In the fall, an etching of Case Institute of Technology was restored on the broad back wall of the Veale Convocation Center — formerly

Emerson Gymnasium. The blue university logo was also added, evoking the ties of old and new.