New proposed IIMA logo: Ex-director asks BoG to put it on hold
Faculty members last month wrote to BoG saying the decision to change the logo was taken without proper consultation
Ahmedabad: Former Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) director Samir Barua has suggested the institute’s Board of Governors (BoG) to put the decision on the new proposed logo on hold. The institute’s faculty and alumni have opposed the new logo.
In a communication to IIMA stakeholders, Barua said they are dealing with a situation where a decision has been made, and reversing it is difficult. “...what is feasible is to request the board to keep the decision in abeyance, till further consultations are carried out, without having to recognize that an error may have been made while accepting the proposal for change,” Barua said in the communication, a copy of which HT has seen.
Over 45 faculty members of the premier institute, last month, wrote to BoG through IIMA director Errol D’Souza, who is also a board member, saying the decision to change the logo was taken without proper consultation. They questioned the rationale behind changing the iconic logo.
Barua said a board member informed him that BOG assumed that the director followed the due process. “He said that the faculty representatives on the board ought to have made the board aware of the absence of consultations with the stakeholders - as that is a part of the role they are expected to play. They did not play that role,” he wrote without naming the board member.
About 1,500 alumni have started an online campaign asking the institute to reconsider its decision of changing the logo. Barua said ease of digitisation, making it simpler and more distinct were cited among the reasons for the change. He added he informed the board member that most of the current faculty and almost all retired faculty members, as well as most alumni, are appalled by the proposal to discard IIMA’s logo, which is a part of the institute’s DNA.
The IIMA’s logo was adopted in 1961 when the institute was set up. It has the motif of ‘tree of life’, inspired by a carved stone latticework grille of Ahmedabad 16th century Sidi Saiyyed Mosque. The logo also has the Sanskrit verse “Vidya Viniyogadvikasa (development through the distribution or application of knowledge)”.
Barua wrote it is likely that a visiting faculty from Korea, who designed the new logo, is not quite aware of the depth of meaning associated with the old logo.
The institute on April 1 said the proposed logo will retain both the visual iconography of the old logo and its Sanskrit motto.
Barua told HT IIMA has succeeded beyond the expectations of its founders and brought glory to the country. “I would not like to comment on the new logo because I think there is no case at all to even think about changing the existing logo.”