Editorial : Student startups will always draw inspiration from Orange, Syracuse

The legal stalemate between Syracuse University and the SU alumnae who trademarked the term ‘Syracutie’ raises an important question: Does SU’s push to foster student entrepreneurship conflict with its strictness in dealing with, even stifling, student startups involving the SU brand?

In the world of business, the best teacher is experience. Under SU’s tight control on the Syracuse brand and its leading figures, students are learning the cutthroat world of business as they fork over large portions of the profits reaped from making and selling T-shirts relating to SU and SU athletics. In many cases these startups are only breaking even, if they start up at all.

A company, whether SU or Pepsi, is well within its rights to protect its brand, especially when others are directly and explicitly trying to capitalize on it. But perhaps SU, wishing to be a leading hub of student entrepreneurship, should treat its alumni and students with respect and professionalism when that entrepreneurial spirit yields an idea rooted in the university. It should not have taken a media explosion about the Syracutie legal struggle for the university to call and set up meetings with its creator, Alyson Shontell.

Students spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to come to SU, live here for four years, laugh and cry with SU’s sports teams, and see students donning SU apparel every day. For as long as SU pushes entrepreneurship, students will find inspiration in this campus, in the color orange and in the word ‘Syracuse’ and all that’s associated with it. With this in mind, SU should streamline a fair and ethical process for dealing with students and alumni who see a creative business venture associated with their much-loved alma mater.