Regents settle on logo for Redhawks

Southeast Missouri State University will have a new Redhawks logo that features a soaring bird atop the new nickname.

The board of regents approved the logo design with a few minor revisions at its meeting Friday at the Show Me Center. School officials plan to officially introduce the logo at a Nov. 16 media day for its men's and women's basketball teams.

At Friday's meeting, the regents also decided against adding 300 seats to the design for the River Campus theater that would have boosted the total number of seats from 950 to 1,250. Board members said it would have been too expensive, adding an estimated $7 million to the cost.

"We just can't afford it basically," said regent John Tlapek of Cape Girardeau.

But the regents suggested the university look at subsidizing ticket prices for Broadway shows and other major entertainment acts to keep ticket prices affordable for the general public.

The performance hall is part of the new River Campus arts school, which is scheduled to be built on the grounds of a former Catholic seminary overlooking the Mississippi River.

As for the university's new logo, the regents said some changes should be made in the type face used for the Redhawks nickname. Other suggested changes dealt with the height of an outspread wing, the tail feathers and even the body of the bird.

Regent Edward Matthews III of Sikeston, Mo., said the bird's body resembled the tank of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

But the regents said they liked the logo overall, selecting it from between two designs. The other featured a swooping hawk and the nickname in block letters.

Don Kaverman, university athletics director, said the campus logo committee her served on preferred the soaring hawk and the nickname with more sharp-edged letters.

But he acknowledged that some at focus group meetings including students, employees and boosters felt the tail feathers were too broad.

"Some people said it looked like a turkey tail," Kaverman said. "This hawk has gone through numerous revisions. We started with eight concepts."

He said the preferred logo had lettering that stood out more. "It is a little edgier. It stands alone better," Kaverman told the regents.

School officials said the other design featured a swooping but less expansive hawk. It made a poor impression on the athletic director.

"It's somewhat malnourished," Kaverman said.

Besides the main logo, the university also will have a secondary logo featuring a red head of a closed-beak hawk atop the words, "Southeast Missouri Redhawks." Other logos will incorporate variations of the two primary logos.

Student regent India Jeffery, who has no vote on the board, said students were divided over whether the soaring hawk or the swooping hawk made a better logo.

But she said students agreed on the secondary logo of a hawk's head. "If nothing else, take the head," she advised the board.

Kaverman said the full-bird logo is too detailed to be used on sports uniforms. In contrast, the logo of the hawk's head could be used on the school's team uniforms, he said.

The new logo was developed with the help of Phoenix Design Works of New York City. The university has been working to develop a new logo since the regents decided in June to scrap the school's traditional American Indian nicknames in favor of Redhawks.

School officials said the new name wouldn't offend American Indians and could be marketed better.

In other business, the regents adopted a plan to subsidize the health insurance premiums for university retirees who don't yet qualify for Medicare.

The regents also voted to remove the KRCU radio tower near the corner of Henderson and Broadway and construct a new tower north of Houck Stadium and southeast of Kent Library. The project is expected to cost $310,000.

The board also voted to proceed with construction of a radio tower for a KRCU repeater station -- KSEF 88.9 FM -- in the Farmington, Mo., area, provided that the work doesn't cost more than $380,568.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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