--- title: University of North Texas Coffee Mug Causes Outcry description: A coffee mug on sale from the University of North Texas has caused an outcry after initials on the cup looked offensive. canonical: https://time.com/4408136/university-of-north-texas-mug/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-15T17:24:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:57.090Z og:title: See Why This Coffee Mug is Making People Freak Out og:description: The placement of the letters for the University of North Texas were perhaps not well thought out og:url: https://time.com/4408136/university-of-north-texas-mug/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6a5161ddce54963/69889c1b8e06018b1a466b48/university-north-texas-coffee-mug.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Japan, Minami, Jonishi, Hokkaido Prefecture, Pattern On Coffees Surface og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Why This Coffee Mug is Making People Freak Out twitter:description: The placement of the letters for the University of North Texas were perhaps not well thought out twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6a5161ddce54963/69889c1b8e06018b1a466b48/university-north-texas-coffee-mug.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Why This Coffee Mug is Making People Freak Out by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 15, 2016 5:24 PM UTC  Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 15, 2016 5:24 PM UTC Some coffee mug designers for the University of North Texas are in hot water. Pictures of the controversial mug have been circulating this week, which show the university’s initials (UNT) right next to the handle. And, like most coffee cups, the handle is shaped like a “C”. We’ll let you use your imaginations on putting one plus three together. As of Friday, the mug has been taken off the school’s website, [according](http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article89792342.html) to _The News & Observer._ This isn’t the first time the school’s letters have caused a stir — the [university was founded ](https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kcu53)in 1890, so the acronym has been around for just as long. Every few years, the [mug sensation](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/3jero3/poorly%5Fdesigned%5Fmug%5Ffrom%5Fthe%5Funiversity%5Fof%5Fnorth/) finds new eyes on the Internet. Maybe it’s time to consider a left-handed design? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4408136/university-of-north-texas-mug/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4408136/university-of-north-texas-mug/"},"headline":"See Why This Coffee Mug is Making People Freak Out","datePublished":"2016-07-15T17:24:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:57.090Z","description":"The placement of the letters for the University of North Texas were perhaps not well thought out","url":"https://time.com/4408136/university-of-north-texas-mug/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6a5161ddce54963/69889c1b8e06018b1a466b48/university-north-texas-coffee-mug.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6a5161ddce54963/69889c1b8e06018b1a466b48/university-north-texas-coffee-mug.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Japan, Minami, Jonishi, Hokkaido Prefecture, Pattern On Coffees Surface","caption":"Japan, Minami, Jonishi, Hokkaido Prefecture, Pattern On Coffees Surface","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4408136/university-of-north-texas-mug/","name":"See Why This Coffee Mug is Making People Freak Out"}}]}] ```