An article in Tuesday’s Daily misidentified Chris Boyer. He is associate athletic director of external affairs.
The Daily regrets the error.
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This fall students will be able to purchase a Northwestern sweatshirt for less than half the price offered at Norris University Center.
The Associated Student Government is sponsoring a contest until the end of May for students to design a NU sweatshirt to be sold to students for $15 in September.
ASG Campus Relations Chairwoman Sara Whitaker said the idea came from students’ complaints about the cost of NU apparel.
“It didn’t start out as a school-spirit thing,” Whitaker said. “It began with the ASG executive board talking about how frustrated we were at how people were talking about not buying NU sweatshirts because of the cost.”
ASG Senator Nishant Goyal is in charge of the sweatshirt initiative through the ASG Public Relations Committee. Having a sweatshirt designed by students for students will raise school spirit, he said.
“We think that allowing students to submit designs as opposed to a generic design by a company will foster a bigger sense of school spirit and Northwestern pride,” Goyal said.
The sweatshirts will be sold at fall athletic events, Blomquist Recreation Center, the Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center, and the store Let’s Tailgate, 1805 Central St.
ASG made a special deal with the athletic department and Let’s Tailgate, the official apparel company of the athletic department, to offer the sweatshirt at $15. ASG is accepting design submissions at its office on the third floor of Norris University Center until May 30.
“We tried to work with the school to (make a more cost-effective sweatshirt available to students) but the university is hamstringed by agreements with officials,” Whitaker said. “The athletic department was kind of a last resort for us, they do a lot of work with their own vendors and they stepped in and were extremely helpful to us.”
Chris Boyer, director of the athletic department said Let’s Tailgate was willing to take on the sweatshirt project with no cost benefit.
“We know that there are some other Big Ten schools that have done an annual sweatshirt contest for the official student section at games and we’ve gone to great lengths to give out free t-shirts at games — we just tied the two ideas together to meet ASG’s goals,” Boyer said.
Both Norris University Bookstore and Let’s Tailgate are licensed to carry products with the NU name. ASG members said they approached the bookstore about producing the sweatshirt, but it could not meet its cost goals.
Joan Steinberg, the merchandise manager at Norris University Bookstore, said she did not think the sweatshirt contest will effect Norris’ fall business because they have a wide selection and online sales.
“Our biggest seller is the hoodie, but what if someone doesn’t like (the student-created design)? We have a lot of customers that don’t ever go to games,” she said.
Whitaker also explained how the sweatshirt initiative could benefit both the students’ sense of community and the athletic department.
“That’s exactly what we want to see — our students wearing sweatshirts at football games, and that’s exactly what they want to see too,” Whitaker said.
Serena Raheja, a Weinberg freshman, said she doesn’t think the student-designed, cheaper sweatshirts would help foster an increased sense of community.
“Everyone wearing the same thing doesn’t necessarily lead to increased spirit,” Raheja said.
Still, Raheja said she thinks the price will entice many students to buy the sweatshirt.
“Everyone wears hoodies to class, no one wants to get dressed up,” she said.
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