University Message on New Brand Standards for Student Organizations and Club Sports

Editor's note: This story was updated on July 9, 2026, to include the most recent messaging to student leaders from Kris Winter, Vice President for Student Success & Spencer Bitner, Executive Director Campus Recreation

Student Club Sports Leaders,

We are emailing you today to let you know we have heard your concerns. We are actively working with University Marketing and Communications to update the standards in a way that addresses your questions and provides greater clarity for all student clubs.

Though this update is not done, we want to address a few concerns to give you peace of mind:

• Club sports will continue to be able to use our university trademarks in reference to teams,including on social media. Not being able to do so was never something that was written in the updated brand standards.
• Club sports will continue to be able to brand their uniforms and apparel with the U-State logo as long as they follow the approval process already in place.
• We will provide an additional badge for club sports that will help simplify club communications by skipping the logo approval process. We will have more information about that when we provide the updated logo standards.
• Club sports teams’ affiliation with USU will continue to be based on compliance with Campus Recreation expectations and university policy. Any non-compliance will be reviewed through the appropriate channels on a case-by-case basis.

Club Sports are an essential part of the student experience at Utah State. We value the bond it creates with current students, alumni, and the surrounding community. We look forward to sharing more details with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Kris Winter

Vice President for Student Success

&

Spencer Bitner

Executive Director Campus Recreation

Editor’s note: This email was sent to Utah State student club sports leaders on July 3, 2026, by Kris Winter, vice president for Student Success.

Dear Student Club Sports Leaders,

I'm writing to follow up on the recent communication regarding new brand standards for student organizations and club sports.

Thank you to everyone who reached out with questions and concerns over the last few days. Your feedback made it clear that parts of the guidance were confusing and did not reflect the university’s intended approach.

I want to emphasize that these standards were developed through a university-wide process involving multiple offices and stakeholders and not the actions of a single person or unit. As the university works through feedback and makes revisions, I encourage you to share concerns and questions. I also ask that you do so respectfully and avoid directing frustration toward any individual staff member.

Please continue to direct your input to studentsuccess@usu.edu.

At this time, please do not make changes to your branding, social media accounts, merchandise, or other materials. Over the next week, USU will review the standards, clarify expectations including the distinctions between the different student organizations, and share updated information.

I appreciate your patience, thoughtful feedback, and commitment to USU. Your input is helping us improve these standards, and USU is committed to providing updated guidance so expectations are clear and consistent for all student organizations.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Sincerely,

Kris Winter

Vice President for Student Success