Guidelines for Use of Columbia Marks

Recognized Student Groups may order and purchase merchandise on behalf of their Student Group and should follow the guidelines below. 

• Your merchandise must be ordered and purchased through a licensed vendor, whether it bears a direct logo or not.  If the merchandise represents Columbia or is purchased with Columbia funding, it must uphold the University's policy to ensure quality and workers’ rights-related assurances.  

• Licensed vendors are responsible for getting necessary approvals from the Licensing Office for such merchandise before production. 

• Your merchandise must be ordered and purchased on behalf of a Recognized Student Group. 

• Your merchandise may be produced for the Group’s own internal use or as a gift for group members, or to be sold on a limited and one-time only basis to members and non-members of the Group as a fund-raiser to benefit the Group.   

• Groups may not sell products bearing any Columbia names or other marks (including the name and logo of the Group) directly to the public at large, via the Internet, or to retailers for resale to the public or via any other commercial channel other than as set forth herein. 

• Your artwork/ merchandise must be approved by your Group’s faculty or departmental advisor. Please provide your advisor’s name to your vendor. If your Group does not have a specific advisor, please visit your School’s Office of Student Affairs. 

• Your merchandise should be clear about the Group it is representing, and the design must incorporate your Student Group’s full name.  If your Group is a cohort rather than a Club, you must still include a Group identifier, such as “Class of ___”.  If your design includes a reference to your School, it should refer to the School with which your Group is affiliated. 

• Your Group’s name or acronym must be present within the graphic using a University logo.  Your Student Group’s name and/or event should be the focus of the design, not secondary or incidental to any University marks.

• Your design may reference the year your Group was founded, but should avoid the impression the University was founded on that date. 

• Your design may not use Athletics marks, such as the Lion Face and Block C.  

• If your merchandise is for an event that involves multiple groups, the design should accurately reflect the Groups’ roles (i.e., “proudly sponsored by” or “hosted by”) 

• Alumni associations and Clubs who wish to produce merchandise for their own clubs should follow the Guidelines of the Columbia Alumni Association. 

• Any co-branding must be approved by the Licensing Office. Co-branding is only permitted in rare instances. Any non-Columbia marks must be smaller, secondary and separate from the University mark. 

• This is not a complete list of all guidelines defining the use of registered trademarks, and the absence of a guideline from this list does not constitute a waiver of any other decision made by the Columbia Licensing Office.

Internal Organizations (i.e., Schools, Departments, Divisions, Institutes, Centers, Programs) may order and purchase merchandise on behalf of their entity, and should follow the guidelines below. 

• Merchandise for Internal Organizations must be ordered and purchased through a licensed vendor, whether it bears a direct logo or not.  If the merchandise represents Columbia or is purchased with Columbia funding, it must uphold the University's policy to ensure quality and workers’ rights-related assurances.   

• Licensed vendors are responsible for getting necessary approvals from the Licensing Office for such merchandise before production. 

• Internal Organizations may order and produce merchandise specific to their Organization, rather than on behalf of the University. 

• Unless otherwise approved by the Department or School, Internal Organization orders should align with the University’s official Visual Identity in order to promote the visual connection to the University as a whole. Internal Organizations affiliated with the Columbia University Irving Medical Center should similarly align their designs with the CUIMC Branding and Identity Guidelines. 

• Internal Organizations should use the correct crown.  

• Internal Organizations may not use Athletics marks, such as the Lion Face and Block C, without Athletics’ approval.  

• Internal Organizations who are hosting or sponsoring an event should include their own Internal Organization’s name on the merchandise and the design should accurately reflect the Internal Organization’s role (i.e., “sponsored by” or “hosted by”) 

• For on-campus events hosted by non-affiliate entities (where the Internal Organization’s only role is providing a location for an event), use of University marks is limited to the name and address of the Columbia building as location for the event.  

• Any co-branding must be approved by the Licensing Office. Co-branding is only permitted in rare instances. Any non-Columbia marks must be smaller, secondary and separate from the University mark. 

• This is not a complete list of all guidelines defining the use of registered trademarks, and the absence of a guideline from this list does not constitute a waiver of any other decision made by the Columbia Licensing Office.

Alumni Groups, including Associations, Global Clubs and Shared Interest Groups who wish to design and purchase merchandise for a giveaway, resale to, or any other use on behalf of their own constituent Groups, must follow the Guidelines developed by the Licensing Office in consultation with the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA).  Any questions may be directed to [email protected].

Any School, Program, Department, Recognized Student Group or School-authorized cohort that plans to create commencement stoles should follow the below guidelines.

• Be sure to order stoles from only a licensed vendor.
• Please direct any questions to [email protected].  
• Looking at the art on the page, the left side of the stole should refer to the School and the right side to the group:

• The left side should identify the School in one consistent manner across all groups, per the guidelines and examples below.
• The right side is where individual groups can feature their own designs, which should include the name of the group or cohort, and may include a secondary “tag line” and/or any graphic that represents the group.  
•    The text on either side of a stole should have clear space around it, to separate it from any patterns or designs, without overlap.  
•    The recommended colors are text in white if the stole has a dark background and text in PMS 280 if the background is light.
• Examples:

Columbia University names and marks may be used on manufactured products offered by outside entities only if explicitly licensed by the University. Non-University businesses and organizations (including, e.g., sponsors of University programs or activities, vendors, and similar entities) may not use University names or marks in promotional or advertising materials.  

Please direct any questions to [email protected].