Following a name change from the Queer Straight Alliance to the Queer Student Union in the Spring 2016 semester at UC Berkeley, a change in our student organization's brand identity also had to happen - especially because the reasons behind this name change were so particular. Spread through out this post is a message regarding the name-change from our club's co-presidents:
"The name of a student organization is basically the briefest summary of that org's mission statement to the general public. It is evident from the name of the Queer Alliance Resource Center that their mission is at least in part to provide resources and community centrality to the queer organizations here on campus. It's evident that the Non-Binary Alliance is an org for people outside of the gender binary. Likewise, it's evident that Queer Womxn @ UC Berkeley is an org for folx who have ever, currently do, or will identify as Queer womyn.
The original design, used in the tabling banner of this student organization, was not bad. However, the color scheme, though bright, made it difficult at first glance for students walking on the Plaza to tell that we were a queer organization, and we wanted all the interest possible in order to mobilize club goings-on and maintain membership.
A lot can be said in a name. So when people hear the name Queer Straight Alliance, what do they actually hear? That we as an organization are so primarily concerned with making straight allies that we would go so far as to put that statement in our name? Are we centering the whole conversation of our organization around this concept that we as queer/trans folx exist in this space to appeal to straight/cis allies? Don't we have anything better to do? Even if we do care about allyship, do we care so much that we would put it in the name of our organization?
The other option for the logo, had we not gone with the actual logo, down below. Grey background...? Ehh.
Consider this name change as a change of dialogue for this organization. We as a club are no longer making allyship the primary focus of what we do. I'm not even sure we ever did. Queer Student Union does not define itself and the queer/trans students in it by its relationship to any kind of straight/cis standard. We are not defined halfway by what little amount of non-queer or gender queer people, if any, come to our meetings. And for any straight allies that do come, that's great, and we welcome you, but you should (and probably do) understand that to insist the name has the word "straight" in it kind of defeats the whole purpose of allyship.
Black-and-white test version of the previous logo.
The Queer Student Union is instead made for queer and trans students. We are a political organization. We do our best to address issues of how we as queer/trans students exist in this space at the university and what kind of intersections our members and the larger queer/trans community live out. We will address issues of queerness, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, ability, and class among other things. And we will not address these issues through a lens halfway clouded by any focus on straight allyship.
Final logo, as decided by myself and the rest of the board. Included in our tabling banner, with the script below the logo, as well. (script does not always appear along with the block logo).
The Queer Student Union is very aware that Queer Straight Alliance has always been considered a white space. Even if we cannot speak to the future diversity of our membership, Queer Student Union will address why QSA has been considered a white space. We will as a club talk openly and frequently about race, culture, and ethnicity, because to ignore such things would be to repeat the violence brought on Queer and/or Trans People of Color by QSA and society as a whole.
An inversed version of the tabling banner/logo. Will be used for fliers, etc; better for printing.
The Queer Student Union is also a community organization. We care about community. A lot. You may have noticed that we have been more active this semester than we have been in the past. Let the name change signify a shift in our organization towards actively seeking to build and reinforce the queer/trans community on campus. We will from now on be very active, and we only care that the community benefits from this activity. So if you ever see one of our events, but haven't been to a meeting in a while, or never came to one in the first place, we don't care. We only care that you come and build community with us.
Logo without the script below it.
We hope that this clarifies why we are changing our name, and we hope you have a better sense now of what QSU's purpose is."
