My point with the UC example wasn’t to cast judgment on the new logo, but simply to point out that with a university logo (or any government logo) (a) a lot of people are paying attention, and (b) many of these people have a voice in the final decision. (a) might be true as well in the choice of a corporate logo, but (b) much less so. There is no way a design firm is going to be able to interact with the entire stakeholder base before producing their designs, and if there are objections it isn’t a fault on the part of the client (as @coherent_light suggests above).
Making the design options available to the public long before any commitments get made helps prevent costly mistakes and negative backlash, though I can understand a firm not wanting to commit resources to win a contract which they might not get. We have the same situation with contractors in my town, they do not want to come out and give detailed estimates before getting some assurance of the job.
