Alumni Loyalty Comes Into Question After T-Shirt Controversy

By Bailey Buckingham 

Texas State’s allegiance to its alumni came under fire after a t-shirt design released by the bookstore was too close for comfort for a former Bobcat.

Rio Rodriguez, owner of San Marvelous, created his business in 2011 to provide students with unique clothing to support the city and university. As a student, Rodriguez made it a priority to promote Texas State pride. Fast-forward to August 2016, and the question of Texas State’s loyalty to their alumni is one that current and former Bobcats are asking.

The item in question was a t-shirt posted to the University Bookstore website that was eerily similar, if not identical, to the San Marvelous design that has been trademarked since Rodriguez opened his business. The front of the shirt read, “San Fabulous.”

Rodriguez said this situation has been disappointing, but this isn’t the first time his business has seen pushback from his alma mater.

After being able to have a booth in the Quad for two years, in 2014 Rodriguez was informed by university officials of changing policies that prohibited outside businesses’ access to campus.

“This pretty much was targeted directly at San Marvelous. They didn’t want sales to be taken away from the bookstore,” Rodriguez said. “But all we’re doing is promoting how great Texas State is.”

In 2015, San Marvelous opened its doors on The Square. Shortly after, the company partnered with the Bobcat Club to help raise membership numbers. The club had nine members when San Marvelous began the partnership, but that number increased to 616 members in one semester.

“I’m a Bobcat, and it’s my responsibility to help out in any way I can,” Rodriguez said. “Part of the agreement with Bobcat Club was for San Marvelous to be in the quad. After some pushback, administration agreed but gave us exclusions to follow.”

This year, Rodriguez had discussions with university officials regarding the possibility of having San Marvelous shirts sold in the bookstore with the Bobcat logo on them. The bookstore’s marketing group said the clothing company would need to pay $20,000 as a corporate sponsor to put the logo on San Marvelous shirts. Rodriguez said this was not in his budget at the time, but he would like to have this option in the future.

After two to three weeks of not hearing anything back from the representatives he spoke with, the San Fabulous shirt appeared on the bookstore’s website and featured the Bobcat logo on the back of the shirt. Rodriguez started receiving messages and phone calls informing him of the t-shirt. After posting screen shots of the shirt on his Facebook page, students, alumni and supporters of San Marvelous began sharing the post, along with their anger and disappointment.

“This is pretty disappointing, coming from a university who knows better—embarrassing,” said Amanda Wilks in a Facebook comment on Rodriguez’ post.

Rodriguez’s friends informed him of messages they sent directly to the bookstore voicing their disappointment. The University Bookstore general manager responded to them saying they were sorry and the shirt had been taken down, Rodriguez said.

“Either way, good for you and good for the university realizing the issue and addressing it properly,” said Cameron Rynd in a Facebook comment to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez agreed with Rynd. However, the San Marvelous owner did not receive any form of communication from the university.

“It’s not that I’m expecting a call. It’s just a courtesy,” Rodriguez said.

John Root, auxiliary services director, said the design was made internally and the shirt was mistakenly overlooked before it went onto the website. He said they acknowledge this was a mistake and that is why the shirt was taken down immediately.

“I really don’t even think they were on the floor yet—just online at that point,” Root said. “But they were taken down so quickly, I don’t think there were even tags on the t-shirts before it was brought to the director’s attention and taken down.”

Root said decisions for designs are created through a variety of ways including student employees and sales representatives that come to the store. However, in this instance, the design was created in-house. He said this situation should not happen again.

San Marvelous was created to amplify not only the university, but also the students who inhabit the school and make the culture what it is today.

“I felt that Texas State students are essentially the coolest students at any university. We have the best culture of people, everyone is laid back, very friendly,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why I identified it as San Marvelous.”

Rodriguez was a fashion merchandising student with job prospects from around the country, but he chose to build a life and brand in San Marcos. Little did he know, that brand would become a marketing catalyst for the city and university.

University officials have let Rodriguez know they will be allowing San Marvelous to have a presence in the quad this year. Rodriguez said he is thankful for this, and he hopes to continue to find ways to work together.

“In spite of all of this, I still want to find a win-win situation for San Marvelous and the university to be able to work together and help each other,” Rodriguez said. “Instead of viewing each other as competitors, we should view each other as an asset or as a teammate.” 

This article originally published on the University Star.