Ear­lier this semes­ter, the FSU School of Music became the FSU Col­lege of Music. Word of this has slowly trick­led down to us stu­dents, since we’re appar­ently not impor­tant enough to even receive an e-mail mes­sage regard­ing the change. Also, many things — includ­ing the web­site — still say “School of Music.” This week marks one of the first times I’ve seen “Col­lege of Music” on any­thing semi-permanent or offi­cial. Unfor­tu­nately, the object on which this appears is not an ele­gant new sign out­side the build­ing, nor is it a stack of styl­ish new let­ter­head. No. Our new des­ig­na­tion is embla­zoned across an ugly-ass pen.
Here’s a descrip­tion of this vari­ety of pen from a com­pany that sells pro­mo­tional materials:

Bic Clic Stic Foil Pens fea­ture a radi­ant, scin­til­lat­ing pris­matic look. They’re opales­cent and kalei­do­scopic… they glit­ter, sparkle, daz­zle, and that’s what gives them such dynamic pro­mo­tional impact!

Here’s my own description:

Bic Clic Stick Foil Pens fea­ture a cheap, gaudy, cheesy look. They’re chintzy and gar­ish… they are ugly, tacky, and taste­less, and that’s what gives them such counter-promotional impact!

As if the pens them­selves weren’t ugly enough, some­one has made a very poor deci­sion with regards to the let­ter­ing. “Florida State Uni­ver­sity Col­lege of Music” is in one font, and “www.music.fsu.edu” is in another font. Not only are the two type­faces totally unre­lated to one another, but one is a serif font while the other is sans-serif.

This is not the sort of thing that should be used to adver­tise one of the largest col­le­giate music pro­grams in the coun­try. This is the sort of thing you’d expect to get from a sleazy used car sales­man. “Car-aaazy Eddie’s Pre-Owned Plea­sure­mo­biles” would be much more at home on this pro­mo­tional trav­esty. What’s next? Will the web­site be redesigned with tiled back­ground images and a bad midi file play­ing on repeat? Will they just put a “Col­lege” sticker over “School” on the sign out­side the build­ing (in a dif­fer­ent font, of course)? I truly hope that this awful pen is not a sign of things to come from the newly chris­tened Col­lege of Music.