Ignite at Temple University responds to Ignite TU campaign’s name
‘A campaign that wants to represent the Temple community didn’t take into consideration a Temple organization’
Ignite at Temple University has been notified of confusion in regards to this current Temple Student Government election season.
Director of Public Relations of Ignite at Temple University, Karissa Gornick, released a statement to The Tab Temple about their concerns of the disregard of their small organization.
The statement reads:
To the Temple Community,
Ignite at Temple University has been notified of confusion in regards to this current Temple Student Government election season. There is a campaign running with a similar title as our national organization: IgniteTU. Unfortunately, the campaign team did not reach out to our executive board to notify us of their campaign or inform us of this conflict. This is especially disappointing to our organization as the likeness in names has been confusing to our members and we have been an established chapter, excited to grow and better Temple’s campus.
As a founding chapter at Temple University of Ignite National, it is our mission to be non-partisan and be civically and politically engaged. We want to clarify that our chapter and the Temple Student Government campaign, IgniteTU, are separate entities. We are not affiliated with IgniteTU, nor do we currently endorse any campaign in this election.
In lieu of this conflict, we encourage our members and the entirety of the Temple community to stay updated with this TSG election season and vote, as our voices are invaluable to our university.
For more information on our organization, please contact our Director of Public Relations, Karissa Gornick, at [email protected] or visit http://www.ignitenational.org.
Thank you,
Ignite at Temple University
Gornick also states, "We're upset that a campaign that wants to represent the Temple community didn't take into consideration a Temple organization."
We reached out to the Director of Communications Sarah Madaus from Ignite TU about Ignite's statement.
“IgniteTU has always, and will always acknowledge and empower all student organizations. We recognize that there is a student organization here at Temple, by the name of Ignite at Temple University, and we want to make it clear that there is no association between our campaign and this organization. The likeness of the two names may have caused some confusion among students, and we apologize for not addressing it sooner. We chose to name our campaign IgniteTU because we wish to spark the conversation and the ignite the passion within all students to help make Temple a better community for all.
We apologize for any miscommunication and we hope to work with Ignite at Temple University in the future to achieve this common goal. Ignite at Temple did contact us via email, and we responded and made attempts at setting up an in-person meeting with them to discuss the name of our campaign, but the plans never came to fruition.”
However, Gornick explains that despite the clear difference of both teams, other organizations on campus have confused them already.
If you want to follow Ignite at Temple University, follow them on their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.