The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is trying to dress up the university's image in the surrounding community and plans to use sweatshirts as its weapon of choice.
In the Boston area, students can find sweatshirts from most well-known colleges, but Tufts paraphernalia is conspicuously absent outside of the university's bookstore.
Now, a "guerilla marketing" campaign may change that, according to sophomore Senator Scott Silverman, the chair of the Student Outreach Committee.
This will start next week with students going to vendors around the city finding out how they can get them to sell Tufts t-shirts and sweatshirts.
Silverman said that the Senate decided to pursue this idea to improve the university's name recognition.
"The more places you can find the Tufts name, I think the better chance Tufts has of improving its reputation," he said.
TCU President Neil DiBiase said that the project is part of a larger effort to shift marketing from ivory towers to larger audiences.
"I think for a long time we really appealed and marketed to a very specific niche market so people at other universities and intellectuals around the country knew who we are and what we were doing, but [we] didn't do a good job of getting our name out to the general public," he said.
This has changed in recent years, and the sweatshirt campaign demonstrates a renewed interest in mass advertisement.
"It shows a commitment to letting people outside our community know what's going on at Tufts," DiBiase said.
Still, senators admit that there is certainly more to increasing the university's image than making apparel more available.
"I wouldn't directly tie clothing to reputation; I think that's too much of a leap," Silverman said.
But he said the effect of the project may be larger than some would think.
"It sounds insignificant, but getting Tufts' name into [more stores] will go a long way in reminding the general public that we're here and that we're a special place," he said.
The project is still in its infant stages, so senators did not have a timeline for it. In the meantime, though, it will continue to be a piece of the puzzle for the body as it tries to help with the university's larger promotional efforts.
"Tufts as a university is working on a branding initiative. The Senate wants to help with that," TCU Historian Alex Pryor said.
Silverman agreed: "The Senate is always trying to improve the reputation of Tufts both internally within the student body and externally within the greater Boston area and beyond," he said.
