Brands appearing on buildings and stadiums is an increasingly common sight at college campuses across the country.Yes, back in the day some members of the late 1960s insurgency were so triggered by the presence of an Army Mathematics Research Center on the Madison campus that they bombed it.
The State Farm Hall of Business houses Illinois State University’s business school. Iowa State University named its genetics research building the Hy-Line Genetics Research Building after receiving money from genetics company Hy-Line International. The University of Memphis has the FedEx Institute of Technology, which houses two classrooms and the graduate school offices.
“What may have seemed kind of tacky 30 to 40 years ago is normal,” said UW-Madison marketing professor Thomas O’Guinn, who is an expert on branding. “Buildings cost a lot of money, so opening it up to businesses makes it a lot easier to find donors. From a development standpoint, it’s smart.”
Adding company names to academic units, such as a medical school or academic department, has the potential to be more problematic, he said. Perceived or actual conflicts of corporate interests interfering with academic research could arise.
“It all comes down to the perception of how much influence that company will have,” O’Guinn said. “You don’t want a company preventing you from doing science in the public interest. It’s in everybody’s best interest that the production of knowledge stay walled off from government and corporate interests.”
On the other hand, dear reader, should you be receiving alumni newsletters, and should those newsletters be bragging on the latest haul of grants from the National Science Foundation and awards from the national endowments, ought you be displeased on the basis of that wall being breached?
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