The original crest and an artist's sketch of the revised crest.

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By Stuart Colcleugh

The combination of SFU's name with the crosses on the coat of arms tends to confuse students and others from abroad, says VP-university relations Warren Gill. He adds it is often assumed SFU is an American-style, private religious university.

"If our name was the University of Burnaby, it probably wouldn't have conveyed the same thing. But being named for a person, and with the crosses, it has always caused some confusion internationally."

SFU never in fact requested crosses on its original coat of arms. It asked the chief Scottish herald — the Lord Lyon King of Arms — for permission to use the coat of arms of the Clan Fraser's chief.

The clan chief approved, but the Lord Lyon did not. The herald chose instead to add a top field to the arms, containing a book and the two crosses, because they had been on the coat of arms of an early MacDonell clan member who had married a Fraser chief.

SFU is now registering both its original coat of arms and the revised version, with the three books, with Canada's chief herald — an office that didn't exist 40 years ago.

Both coats of arms will be retained for limited formal uses. The new SFU logo, with its three white initials on a red block, will be the general rule for all forms of print and web communication.