A snappy slogan can’t change a university, but it can embody one. Since two members of the University of Michigan marching band started screaming the words “Let’s Go Blue” at hockey games nearly 40 years ago, students and alumni there have lived by the phrase. At the University of Texas at Austin, where a cheerleader in the 1950s started chanting “Hook ’em horns,” the phrase is today used to end letters and as a greeting in everyday conversations.
This university’s “Fear the Turtle” isn’t quite so ingrained in the student culture here. However, in the five years it has rallied sports fans and graced university ads, it has also drummed up donors and caught the attention of high school seniors. While the phrase doesn’t have a clever story behind it – it started with a market research team – and the words by themselves mean little, to students and alumni, the phrase means a lot.
“‘Fear the Turtle’ IS the university, at least as far as the athletic department goes. It’s a fun phrase creating tongue-in-cheek chest puffing,” noted Matthew Stabley, a correspondent from an NBC affiliate in Washington.
Our fears were stoked last when Vice President for University Relations Brodie Remington indicated the university might consider dropping the catchy slogan. And as administrators back off the statement, we’re glad it wasn’t true. The university had finally found a catchphrase that worked.
Before “Fear the Turtle” debuted in 2003, administrators plackered the phrase “Act Like You Know” across bus stops, bulletin boards and local businesses. The slogan was meant to encourage sportsmanship, but it inspired resentment and spite instead. Students complained administrators were trying to impose a culture on the university. Faculty decried the campaign as wasted money in tough economic times. Eventually it gave birth to a satirical web spinoff, actlikeyougiveaf—.com. Before “Act Like You Know,” the ambiguous advertising campaign “Zoom” failed to resonate with students and alumni.
“Fear the Turtle” is different. It can mean many things, and it’s catchy. It’s not offensive, but it’s not vapid. And most important of all, people like it. While it isn’t chanted at basketball or football games, students and alumni proudly buy T-shirts, keychains and other knickknacks emblazoned with the slogan. It has garnered national attention for the university and, according to one admissions official, it has led to an increase in student applications. Chances are “Fear the Turtle” would have survived the university’s marketing reassessment anyway, but it’s important for administrators to realize they’re not just reconsidering a phrase. They’re playing with the way students view their university, the place that will one day come calling to them for donations
University President Dan Mote defended his decision to keep prayer at commencement, saying it was one of the university’s last remaining traditions. But “Fear the Turtle” has the potential to become one. Administrators are now making it clear they plan to leave the phrase alone. It’s the right decision.
