AUBURN, Alabama — What's old is new again.

Auburn will not permanently switch to a tweaked "AU" shield logo, it was announced Monday during a meeting of the university's student government senate, according to The Auburn Plainsman. Rumors of the logo being scrapped have swirled since September.

Student Government Association president Mary Margaret Turton said Ronald Burgess, Auburn University's chief operating officer, told her the university will stick with its traditional logo.

"Because we’ve had conversations regarding the visual identity system for the past few weeks in here, I do want to share an update that I got this morning," Turton said. "General Burgess announced that we will not be moving forward with the new logo this morning. We have plans from that directive to continue using the traditional Auburn logo, so I just wanted to share that."

The new logo was shared among department heads in August and a source shared it with Auburn Undercover.

The new logo utilized the traditional "AU" shield framework, but closed the white space between the "A" and "U" to provide more focus on the "A" for Auburn. The "U" in the logo was also shorter in height than in the previous version.

The new design was leaked to Auburn Undercover and confirmed by Auburn University in an email correspondence Aug. 8 with Auburn Undercover.

"Auburn updated its visual identity system to make it compatible with the many ways, especially digital, in which it is now used and to help us further elevate the Auburn brand," said Mike Clardy, the university's assistant vice president for communications said in an email to Auburn Undercover on Aug. 8. "It’s in fact already in partial use."

As rumors spread of the new logo being shelved, Auburn Undercover asked university spokesmen Sept. 20 if the logo would not be used, but the university did not respond to the email. The university has also not responded to an open records request concerning the costs of developing the new "visual identity system."

The logo was first utilized at the Raymond Harbert College of Business on campus. A university spokesperson said in August the athletics department would slowly implement the new insignia.

The new decal, however, never appeared on Auburn athletics apparel or helmets. Equipment with the original logo created in 1966 had already been ordered for the upcoming seasons in most sports.

The athletics and academics logos are below. Other treatments tied to the "visual identity system" included "University" with "Auburn" also included for the academic logos, Clardy said in August.

Auburn debuted its new commercial for the university in late August. The commercial utilized the new font associated with the new "visual identity system," but included the traditional "AU" shield and not the updated version.

Auburn has utilized the "AU" shield on its football helmets since 1966.

*** Get 1 MONTH of VIP access for $1 and receive the latest Auburn recruiting and team scoops ***

*** Get FREE Auburn breaking news in your inbox ***