Prior to the end of the football game against Wisconsin three weekends ago, the crowd was given the heads-up on a new Spartan tradition that was to be unveiled Saturday.
And after much fanfare on the stadium Jumbotron — including images of Beaumont Tower and “The Spartan” statue — during the Homecoming game against Illinois, the new class rings were revealed to the crowd, who had mixed reactions.
In recent years, the notion of a piece of jewelry started to fade out of the spotlight with new graduates and did not appear to unite students with different interests and goals, said Scott Westerman, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association.
Leading up to the announcement, an “eclectic” group of students and alumni met during the past year and discussed what features the ring should display to ensure the final design was completely MSU, he said.
“For me, (the announcement was) the culmination of a great Homecoming week — we had a very successful series of events,” Westerman said. “This was really the icing on the cake to talk about a new alumni tradition.”
Officals settled the final design of Beaumont Tower, “The Spartan” with the phrase “THY PRAISES” beneath it and a green stone on the top of the Balfour-manufactured ring, said Lauri Robison, director of marketing and public relations of the MSU Alumni Association.
Prices start at about $350 for the non-precious metal and up to about $1,500 for 18-karat gold. Pendants and women’s versions of the ring start at about $550. Each can be bought at any of the five MSU bookstores in East Lansing and later online, Robison said.
MSU students previously purchased rings through Jostens, a ring and memoribilia company, and could customize those with their choice of emblem or style. Switching manufacturers was not a cost to the university and students still can order a custom ring outside of the recommended MSU style, Westerman said.
In addition, older and previously purchased class rings — even from Jostens, for example — can be traded in at no cost to alumni during the next year.
“You could shake a hundred hands and see a hundred different ring designs,” she said. “We wanted to bring that all under one single design and make sure our alumni have that common connection — no matter how old you are.”
But the announcement of the new rings did not resonate to some undergraduates, especially those in the student section.
“Me and my friends kind of thought it was stupid, to be honest,” said Spencer Gregerson, a human biology and premedical sophomore.
“We were expecting something better for a new Spartan tradition.”
But some alumni who watched the rings on the display, some said it will achieve what it is aimed to do — unite all Spartans as one.
“It would be nice to have some choice in the design with these new rings,” said Rick Scholfield, a 1973 MSU graduate.
“But on the other hand, it seems more like all of us graduated from the same place.”
Staff writer Dillon Davis contributed to the report.
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