Newhouse Expression

According to Oscar Wilde “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” Wilde always was one of my favorite writers, so I followed his advice and came to S.I.Newhouse School of Public Communications to pursue my master degree in public relations. Since I like to travel light and could take only 44 pounds (20 kg.) of my life with me, I came to the US with a limited amount of clothes to wear.

If you want to get clothes ASAP within walking distance from Newhouse, it will be either university bookstore at Schine Student Center or several stores on Marshall street. All venues can satisfy all tastes and budgets, sizes and relationship to a student. You can find not only all the clothing items that can fit the word Syracuse on them, but also a special edition of “Beat Duke’’ shirts and sweatshirts. (Do not forget to cheer for Syracuse basketball team in never ending rivalry with Duke University on Jan. 18, 2016)
It goes without saying that Syracuse bookstore carries official t-shirts for all different colleges and Newhouse is not an exception. Newhouse t-shirts are available only in one design for now, with the logo that was set by the college’s Graduate Student Organization (GSO). In fact, “Newhouse’s older stock has sold out and is the first school we have had to reorder due to its popularity.’’ said Keith Kobland, Media Manager at Syracuse University.

I have been studying at Newhouse since June and observed a paradox of Newhouse t-shirts: they sell out fast, but until now I saw only one person wearing it in class. Daniel Denning, a sophomore student, bought both the t-shirt and the sweatshirt at the beginning of his freshmen year and wears it proudly to classes.

Photo credit: author

It made me wonder about the type of people who buy Newhouse logo t-shirts. I did a little research asking my classmates why they don’t have one now and when they plan to purchase one. It turned out that the majority plan to get one but only after they become an alumni.

People say that clothes are a means of self-expression. If you come to Newhouse, you can see a great representation of international students who express their identity through clothes and accessories from their culture. In a week I spotted a pashmina from India, a t-shirt from Hong Kong, a batik from Indonesia and a shawl from Russia.

Photo credit: author

The same behavior is observed among domestic students: idiosyncratic boots from Texas and numerous sweatshirts that represent either a sports teams from all over the US or a student organization. I guess we all like to represent and identify ourselves with something that we love or miss. I think all of these delightful people at Newhouse will get the Newhouse logo shirt once ready to leave “home’’ and cause another reorder situation for the bookstore. At least, I am going to buy one closer to my graduation and will be more than happy to have a new design logo created by the Newhouse GSO.