Dear Piper,
What do we take the lead in?
From,
Blind Follower
Dear Blind Follower,
Hamline’s latest marketing campaign states, “We take the lead,” but they forgot to mention what it is that we take the lead in, which has been making me have an anger deep within myself that I didn’t know was possible. Also, as your name implies, the lack of specificity leaves us feeling like that John Travolta gif of him wandering aimlessly.
So what do we take the lead in? Well if you have seen the marketing campaign images, which of course you’ll have noticed it’s everywhere: light posts, benches, postcards, Hamline’s website or even on the side of the Anderson center probably in 1,000 font size. Okay maybe it’s not on the Anderson Center, but you get it the marketing campaign is everywhere.
Hamline’s We Take The Lead Poster. Photo courtesy of hamline.edu
Besides the lack of specificity, the other thing that really angers me about the campaign is how the letters are just barely cut off. Are we taking the lead so much that we cannot finish what we are saying? Is this some new trend that Hamline is trying to take the lead on? Either way, I think that the text should have been moved to the left one centimeter so that all of the text could fit on the image. Then I wouldn’t be clenching my fists every time I see the logo, ready to fight it.
Anger aside, if you have ever gone to any sort of Hamline function or just go here then you will know that we are the first university in Minnesota. Because Hamline always has to remind you that the University of Minnesota messed up with their charter so we beat them. So technically we take the lead by being the first university and by beating the U of M, take that Goldy the Gopher. (It’s okay they beat us later on.)
Since we are the first university in Minnesota, it only makes sense that we had the first graduates of any university in the state. And this one is a two for one, because the graduates were also women.
The Sorin sisters: Elizabeth and Emily Sorin graduated from Hamline in 1859 with both B.A. and M.A. degrees. I mean, just look at them and you can tell that they are total badasses with their ‘I gotta look at my future not you, photographer guy.’
And now we are to the section where all the U of M students will be happy, because of course they beat us at sports. Hamline hosted the very first intercollegiate basketball game ever on February 9, 1895. It was us against the Minnesota State School of Agriculture, which is now the St. Paul Campus for the University of Minnesota. They beat us with a score of 9-3, but we were still the first university in Minnesota and we basically invented March Madness. Not really but everyone likes to claim that.
While some things may never change, like Hamline losing games, there are some pretty cool things that we have taken the lead on. I still think that the phrase is too ambiguous but I suppose it is better than those ‘Make your Mark’ posters and at least there are no longer those posters for the ground on the walkway around the Anderson Center with Hamline’s new motto.
Sincerely,
Patricia Piper
To get a response from Patricia Piper, email asks to hercampus@hamline.edu or message us on social media.