Coats of Arms
Definition of "coat of arms": an arrangement of bearings, usually depicted on and around a shield, that indicates ancestry and distinctions.
Western Reserve University
Symbolism
In scarlet red and white, this coat of arms uses elements of both the Western Reserve College seal and the Western Reserve University seal. The shield, in heraldic terms, represents faith. An open book, which signifies scholarship and the Old and New Testaments, has the Hebrew character "aleph" and the Greek character "omega" on its pages. These symbols represent the Hebrew and Greek origins of Western thought. Wisdom and honor are symbolized by the sun, while its twelve rays represent the twelve original trustees of WRC. The eleven spaces between the rays signify the schools of WRU in 1951. The simplicity of the two-color design was meant "to signify the efficiency and contemporaneous viewpoint of a unified, well-ordered institution of higher learning."Despite the approval of a design that included the Hebrew letter "aleph", the original sketch, like the one pictured here, incorrectly featured the Greek letter "Nu."
