Juniors change class T-shirt design

Juniors+receive+their+T-shirts+the+morning+of+the+Homecoming+rally+due+to+a+possible+misinterpretation+of+their+class+shirts

Shannon Su

Juniors receive their T-shirts the morning of the Homecoming rally due to a possible misinterpretation of their class shirts

The junior class T-shirt was changed earlier this week after the original design was found to be possibly spelling out a racial slur.

The T-shirt design’s possibly offensive text was a mistake, according to both Dr. Matthew Harley, Junior Class Dean, and the student designer, Kevin Ke (11).

The original design of the class shirt with the front spelling out “juniors” with multicolored splotches behind the words in white font. The back had the same basic design, instead saying “Living Legends.”

Dr. Harley spoke about the issue.

“Nobody saw anything unusual about any of the designs.” Dr. Harley said “We had over a hundred juniors voting online, looking at these different designs without any issues. When we got the shirt with the winning design, at least one student, it popped into their head that this section of this part of the word is actually a racial slur.”

Dr. Harley also made clear that the situation would not repeat itself, due to the unintentional nature of the offensive word.

“When Ankur [the junior class Secretary] informed me of the problem, I understood why the shirt may needed to be changed.” Kevin said “I’m just frustrated because we should have caught it before we printed the shirts so we wouldn’t be so tight on time.”

Dr. Harley also discussed the necessity for the shirt to be altered.

Junior class Vice President Sanil Rajput (11) commented about the noticeability of the mistake.

“That’s the issue with the T-shirt, initially, you won’t see it, but the moment you hear about it, you know it’s there and you can’t miss it.” Sanil said.

The decision to change the shirt fell mostly upon Dr. Harley with assistance and advice from the junior student council officers.

Junior class Spirit Coordinator, Edward Sheu, also shared his opinion of why the change to the shirt was necessary.

 


 

Dr. Harley worked with a screen printer to adjust the design of the shirt. The printing over of the original design cut down on the cost of changing the shirts greatly by not purchasing entirely new ones, but instead adapting the originals.

If the junior class treasury is unable to pay, the administration may be drawing on funds from different budgets to cover the costs.