The University of Dayton’s new logo design has been met with criticism and laughter, as many believe it looks a lot like the initials VD.

Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed has the story:

U. of Dayton is latest university to get into trouble with logo redesign

University of Dayton officials on Tuesday denied that the institution was changing its logo, even after its first week of use led to quite a bit of mocking that it appeared to be promoting sexually transmitted disease.

The new logo promotes the Dayton Flyers with a red D and three blue wings on the top left of the D. But just as University of California officials were taken by surprise in 2012 when many thought its new logo looked like a flushing toilet, Dayton officials didn’t expect their new logo to be associated with venereal disease. People don’t see the blue lines as wings, but rather as a V and, not surprisingly, they don’t want their university associated with VD.

Among the hashtags that have been created are #weareVD and #UDnotVD. One fan on Twitter created an image of a T-shirt (at right) he expected to be sold at the university’s bookstore.

The Dayton Business Journal compiled some of the better Twitter posts, including “Shout out to the Dayton University student intern who spent a full 7 minutes on MS Paint putting the new logo together” and “Branding Gone Bad: University of Dayton: We Love the VD Logo.” Other comments praised the logo. A Facebook page has been created to call for a return to the old logo, or anything but the new logo.

An online petition states that if the university would add back the letter U and replace what many see as a V, the new design could work.