Change is among us. The star and banner logo customary to George Mason University Athletics, is getting a makeover. Beginning in September, students will be seeing a different logo used for athletics. Along with the change in the athletic logo, the university logo, which is the word George Mason University with a line over the top, is changing as well. Students can expect to see this change sooner than the athletic logo, although full implementation will also be in September. The new university logo was unveiled in early April. Students should expect to see the new university logo being filtered into student life in the coming weeks. Assistant athletic director Andy Ruge first came up with the idea in spring 2003. He was concerned he hardly saw students wearing George Mason apparel. Instead he found many students wear clothes from other universities. “You walk around campus and you don’t see anyone with our logo on,” Ruge said. “I want the students to have a little more pride with the identity of the athletic program.” The change of the logo will not affect Mason’s nickname, the Patriots, or the green and gold colors. The change of Gunston is on the agenda for the future, though, Ruge said. The department is planning to conduct four focus groups containing six people to determine the best logo. These groups will consist of students, athletes, alumni, season ticket holders, fans and others who will be chosen randomly. The groups were scheduled to begin Monday and will last the entire week. “The problem with logos is that they are like music, it’s an opinion,” Ruge said. “We wanted to maintain the brand of identity that we’ve built up for nine years with the current logo.” The new logo will be George Mason’s third logo since the school gained its independence from the University of Virginia. At one point, GMU had a patriot head as their logo, before moving to the star and banner.