Why the new RVA sticker just won't -- and shouldn't -- stick

Two weeks ago, I started noticing stacks of stickers sitting next to the registers in the bookstore and at Passport Cafe. You may already have one.

As a local, I have grown used to seeing "RVA" plastered in bold, white letters on every bike, wall and messenger bag in this city. But this time, I was puzzled at what I saw -- the familiar sticker had been reworked into a version specific to the University of Richmond.

According to the university's Facebook page, the sticker was made to represent the school being "a university for Richmond as well as of Richmond." The description encourages students to "display it with well-earned pride!"

To me, the sticker is a slightly desperate and unnecessary attempt at imitation to fit in.

In spite of the taunts from my friends at VCU, I don't think there is any doubt about Richmond being an integral part of this city -- we don't need to plaster our name on the RVA sticker to do that.

There is a myth that Richmond students spend four years isolated on the city's western edge, but I have run into my peers all around town, everywhere from the First Fridays Art Walk to the Target where I work.

I have heard some say that this university's students are too detached from the community to really be Richmonders. But I know of many students who devote their free time to working with city school children or helping local homeless people through the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement.

Many alumni from this university have even gone on to settle down in this city and contribute to Richmond in their own ways. Some have used their fame and wealth to support charitable and cultural causes, such as the Ukrops, Robins and Weinstein families.

Others have used their simple devotion to better this community, such as my former high school principal. A university that is not of, and for, Richmond could not have inspired these graduates to focus their talents where they did.

When the RVA sticker was created almost two years ago, its simple design reflected its simple message: RVA is a noun for anything and everything that is Richmond. Adding the University of Richmond to that sticker implies that we weren't somehow included before.

Even though I was born here, I am no more of a Richmonder than the students here. There is no arbiter of "Richmondness," and anybody who tries to judge your belonging here has forgotten what this city means.

If you live in this city, love this city and work to better it in your own small way, you are a Richmonder. Display that with well-earned pride.