Washington State University’s first apple variety, the WA 2, is being rereleased under the label Sunrise Magic five years after it was released nameless in 2011.

The branding was announced in February after university researchers partnered with Proprietary Variety Management in order to create a more recognizable brand for customers.

The problem? The WA 2 apple was already trademarked last year as Crimson Delight by the Yakima-based packer Apple King.

After the WA 2 was released in 2011, the university handed responsibility for the licensing and distribution of the variety to the grower-funded Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission.

The potentially ethical hiccup is that the university is negotiating to force all future growers and distributors of the Sunrise Magic to use and pay royalties the new brand name and logo – though existing growers may use any brand name they wish.

Now, you may be scratching your head and asking, “Why should I care?” Money is the answer.

According to the WSU Faculty Manual, 50 percent of the royalties from publicly released plant varieties will go to the breeding program, 30 percent to the breeder, 10 percent to the university’s Office of Commercialization and 10 percent will go to the university for administrative costs.

At face value, this seems like a decent breakdown – half will go to fund university research and the next largest portion to the creator of the product.

However, the remaining 20 percent goes to either marketing or administrative overhead.

Perhaps the financial and budget czars of the university know better, yet it seems like more funds could go back to the students.

Despite the need for money and budget cuts from both the regents and Olympia, the university seems to forget in this royalty breakdown its cardinal purpose for existing: the education of the next generation.

Do not get me wrong, high quality research supports any great university – however, there could be a more concerted effort to benefit not just the programs but also all WSU students, without whom there would be no need for a university.

Despite the large portion to research and the breeder, the university still sees it prudent to give significant portions to administrative costs and marketing.

Simply put, any portion of sales that does not support research should be equally allocated between scholarships or otherwise student-oriented funding and administration.

From a political standpoint, the fiscal breakdown from the royalties of this push to rebrand the WA 2 apple looks awful. It says nothing of contribution to the improvement and welfare of students.

However, in the context of the aforementioned tuition estimates, it appears WSU is interested in making money only for research and administration and not with students explicitly in mind.

Just like branding, the words on a fiscal breakdown mean everything – if WSU wants all its students to feel their welfare is being taken into account, they need to explicitly do so by making their dollars talk.

The administration may brand its apples as it chooses. My vote is Sunrise Magic cider be created down the road.

However, more proceeds should come back to the reason for this university: its students.

Tyler Laferriere is a graduate student pursuing his master’s in economics from Phoenix, Arizona. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.