I like stories... and I have one for all of you. While this is not necessarily the exact same precedent of what could and should happen with our situation, it is a great reminder of what the POWER of the STUDENTS and the POWER of the PEOPLE can have on a similar situation. In 1965 UC Santa Cruz opened its doors but did not sponsor any type of varsity intercollegiate athletics. When the students took hikes into the beautiful redwood forests of Northern California they noticed the native banana slug. Because of the type of school they were and because of the simpleness and ironic nature of having a slimy creature represent them. Over time the slug became the unofficial mascot of the school, In 1980 the school realized the value of intercollegiate athletics, and while they didnt want to abandon the schools goals they knew that having athletics was important to student life, and in bringing awareness to their school when the athletics teams would travel representing the school. They became an NCAA Division 3 program, but the NCAA required that they picked a mascot. The Chancellor of the school decided to ask a few of the student athletes what the name of the team should be and they suggested Sea Lions . Despite the majority of the students wishing to adopt the Banana Slugs as their mascot, Chancellor Sinsheimer refused to choose that name and supported Sea Lions in 1981. He even tried to be funny (doesnt this sound familiar) by proclaiming in media interviews that the sea lion had spirit and vigor and dismissed the slug as spineless Yellow (cowardly), sluggish and slimy. Despite the fact that the sea lion was the OFFICIAL mascot of the UCSC athletics. The students did not care...at basketball games the students would show up in support and yelled things like Slime em! and Lets Go Slugs. To the student body, it did not matter what the official designation was. The continued to cheer for their BANANA SLUGS!!. It wasnt until 1986 that the Student Union Assembly got together and decided that this decision needed to be a campuswide ballot measure... Even if the result of the measure was non-binding... It would make it clear to the administration what the students wanted. The result of the vote? A landslide 5 to 1 ratio of the student body wanted to be the Banana Slugs! There was national publicity around this debate... and after much persuasion the Chancellor made the change.. and since then the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.. LIVE ON. This is to illustrate what YOU can do. Just because it is official in the end YOU DONT HAVE TO ACCEPT IT. As far as I am concerned the team that competes at the FIELDHOUSE and at EDINBURG BASEBALL STADIUM.. and ALL OF OUR STUDENT ATHLETES are BRONCS! Students.. Alumni... the time is now to tell this administration that despite what you may think... WE ARE FIGHTERS.. We will NOT.. just roll over on this issue. We are not going to let you say It is just a mascot Because if it wasnt an important...then why wouldnt you just give the people and the students what they want? If it is important enough for you to want to change it, it is important enough for us to want to KEEP IT! news.ucsc.edu/2011/06/banana-slug-25th-anniversary.html
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 19:29:20 +0000