Happy Halloween, Ms. Hedges

As children young and old know, Wednesday this week will be Halloween, a date traditionally dedicated to the playful celebration of all things fearful and frightening.

On that day, in a fitting coincidence, an event that UW administrators have dreaded for months will take place in the spooky gothic confines of Gerberding Hall, home to the offices of the UW administration.

This Halloween, Gerberding Hall will be visited by a special group of UW students, dressed not as ghosts, vampires or hobos, but rather as something that truly strikes fear into its denizens' hearts: student activists! These students will be knockin' on the administration's door to demand not candy treats, but something more substantial: accountability from their administration, and a meaningful role in important University decisions.

This scary scenario will occur during a formal meeting between student leaders and two key administrators - namely, Barbara Hedges, athletic director; and Norman G. Arkans, associate vice president and executive director for University Relations. The meeting's focus will be the re-designed Husky logo that was unveiled last April, and the sneaky circumstances behind its creation.

Last April, the athletic department announced that full rights to design Husky athletic wear had been sold to the Nike Corporation. As part of the deal, the UW was presented with a new Husky logo, designed by Nike Team Sports, as a symbol of our new contract with Nike. The new, uncannily "swooshy" Husky logo was unveiled with much fanfare (The Daily, April 19, 2001.)

Hedges and Co., expecting students to unanimously swoon over the sleek sweatshop lines and bold corporate tones of the new logo, were instead surprised to find it the focus of a campus uproar due, among other reasons, to a certain detail that had somehow been overlooked.

It seems that, while a carefully chosen "visual identity committee" consisting of alumni, staff, coaches and administrators had been briefly consulted by Hedges and Co. before Nike was chosen to design the new logo, the larger UW community - students, faculty, alumni and athletes - was never informed about the plan, much less asked whether a new logo was wanted in the first place. Even Jasmin Weaver, then ASUW president, got the news like most everyone on campus - from the local news media, after the fact.

This was not the first time our administration has shut students out of important decisions. The regents' new energy fee is another example of our administration announcing a big decision after it's a done deal. Secrecy is just one tactic our admin takes to like a tasty Halloween treat; stalling for time is another.

Case in point: student leaders originally requested Wednesday's meeting back in May, while the logo controversy was still new on campus. Five months later, we're finally getting our chance to offer "suggestions" about a deal that's already well done and long gone. Happy Halloween, kids!

But this story isn't necessarily over.

Also in May, the ASUW passed a resolution "affirming the importance of the Husky logo to UW students." Among other key points, the resolution demanded that "the UW athletic department should have students take part in any such future changes of the Husky logo and other pertinent decisions," and that "the UW administration should have students take part in any important decisions affecting the University community."

With an unusually talented and focused Board of Directors heading the ASUW this year, this resolution will not likely be buried quite so easily in the graveyard of student initiatives by our administration. Unlike other important meetings involving our admin, Wednesday's meeting is no secret, and will not be closed to the public. All concerned UW community members are invited. Be sure to wear your finest activist finery, the better to give our democracy-shy administration a good Halloween fright.

The meeting with A.D. Hedges and V.P. Arkans will be Wed. Oct. 31 at 2:30 p.m. in Gerberding 26.