Traditions & rivalries / Operation Zebra · 2018
Groton's zebra goes to committee
The nickname existed. The face did not. Fixing this required five departments and, by one estimate, twenty sets of eyes.
Groton already had the Zebras, which worked perfectly well as a word. The picture was the problem. There was no consistent visual depiction of the animal—various versions floated around, none of them quite agreeing on what a Groton zebra ought to look like.
A committee formed from admissions, athletics, alumni relations, communications, and the business office. The project picked up speed when a Groton parent named Doug Eymer noticed the inconsistencies and offered his expertise. They code-named the effort Operation Zebra. If you think five departments is a lot of oversight for one drawing, you may be underestimating how many feelings a school can develop about a stripe pattern.
The committee drew up what the zebra should convey—strong, dignified, friendly—and what it must never be. The nose alone was not to look fierce, snarling, scary, or cartoonish. A zebra asked to be strong without being fierce and friendly without being cartoonish is navigating a fairly narrow corridor of expression. Gail Friedman, the director of communications, reckoned they went through “probably twenty sets of eyes” trying to get the gaze right.
The junction where the custom G met the animal's neck was one of the small details that went through revision. A real zebra does not have a letter on its neck, but then a real zebra has never had to represent an admissions office.
After spring break, the finished zebra arrived on t-shirts distributed to every student. Owen Gund ’19 liked the G itself but did not like the way it connected to the zebra’s neck.
Brit Hyde ’19 felt the whole thing looked “too scary” for an academic institution. Scary being exactly what the committee had asked the nose not to be.