Lindenwood-Belleville unveils new, more fierce logo

Lindenwood University-Belleville has only existed for about 11 years. But it’s already getting a makeover.

The school on Friday unveiled a new logo centered on the mascot of its sports teams, the Lynx.

“One of the consistent things since I became president almost a year ago is that people from our community have been coming to me saying ‘change the logo,’” Lindenwood-Belleville president Brett Barger said. “People felt that it appeared a little bit too gentle and docile for a mascot that represents our teams as they do battle. They wanted us to toughen it up a little bit.”

The cat, with its prominent ears and tufts of hair will be recognizable as the same type of animal, Barger said. He’s just going to have a little bit more of an attitude.

Freshman nursing student Kaylee Bouas, 18, of O’Fallon, said she’s a little nostalgic about the old logo.

“I’m not opposed to the new one,” Bouas said. “I just kind of liked the old one.”

Sophomore Nidhal Meiz and senior Dmitry Suhusim said they’re glad to see the change.

“I was hoping for something more modern,” said Meiz, who is from France and plays soccer at the school.

“I agree,” Suhusim, of Latvia, said. “More modern is definitely an improvement.”

The timing couldn’t have been better for the change. Barger said the school recently switched from Adidas to Under Armor as its athletic gear supplier. So it was a convenient time to update designs.

School leaders had an advertising agency draw up a few options based on feedback submitted by students. The eventual choice was unanimously selected by the logo committee.

“We’re excited about it,” Barger said. “We wanted to get it rolled out before students go home for the summer.”

Barger said he hopes the new logo will be more timeless than the old one, which he said seemed to be most appealing to small children.

Junior Peter Winkler, of Kansas City, Mo., said he prefers the new lynx.

“I like it. It’s pretty sweet — much better than the old one,” he said. “It’s definitely more modern.”

While the new logo will show up on sports uniforms in the fall and in the new campus book store run by Barnes and Noble before that, it will likely take a while before the friendlier lynx disappears for good.

“We’re not sure yet if there will be a new costumed mascot,” Barger said. “It takes a while to change things out and we’ll have to see as that process works itself out. We have a charter bus that is wrapped with the old logo and signs that line West Main Street that all have the old logo. Things like that will take a while to change.”

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Lindenwood-Belleville unveils new, more fierce logo."