Campus Signs and Symbol

In June 1967 Vice President Edward J. Boling and Paul Arthur, a Canadian designer, announced that UT external signage would be increased, and all signs would be uniform, including having a new, official UT symbol. Arthur was the sign designer for Expo ’67, the world’s fair held in Montreal. The new UT symbol was conceived by putting a white circle in a dark square to form the bottom into a U and extending a bar from the top to form a T. All building signs were to be four feet by four feet and made of plywood covered with white vinyl. The new symbol (replacing the interlocking UT) was not popular, primarily because it seemed to read TU instead of UT. In July Vice President Boling announced that the new graphic was a trademark and would not supplant the concrete UT located near Neyland Stadium, the formation of the interlocking UT performed by the band at football games, or any of the symbol-marked items sold at the bookstore (now VolShop).