It’s stamped on every piece of paper and every poster incoming freshmen see as they walk to events around campus at Colonial Inauguration. The ribbon-like design officially represents CI – but what exactly is it?

Robert Chernak, senior vice president of Student and Academic Support Services, said that most people think the CI logo is supposed to be a ribbon, but is really meant to resemble steam. It was developed from the initial CI logo, a slice of cherry pie with steam rising from it.

Chernak said that a past CI tradition was to serve hot cherry pie at the end of the first day, so GW decided to make the pie CI’s official logo for the first few CIs, which began in 1990.

But there was one problem – GW wanted to make custom shirts for members of the Colonial Cabinet using the CI logo, but no one wanted to wear a shirt with a cherry pie on it.

They redeisgned the logo, Chernak said. “And the steam of what originally came out of the cherry pie evolved into the current logo.”