Posted by Jay Livingston
School mascots and team names are the subject of a discussion over at Sociological Images. Much of the discussion is about ethnic names – the Orientals, the Gauchos, etc. And of course all those variants on Native Americans (SocImages has more on them here),* which reminded me of my favorite story in this department.
At Stanford , since 1930 or so, teams had been the Indian. But in 1972, what with political correctness and all, the administration changed it to the Cardinals.
The alumni felt as though someone had flipped them the bird, and demanded that the Indian be reinstated. Being a democratic institution, the university put it to a referendum in 1975, and students voted on a ballot that included the Indians, the Cardinals, and several other choices
including Sequoias, Trees, Railroaders, and Robber Barons.And the winner is: the Robber Barons.
The administration felt that this was insulting to the dignity of their founder Leland Stanford (insulting, though accurate). So they ran another referendum, this time with Robber Barons removed from the ballot.
And the winner is: Robber Barons on a write-in campaign.
At which point the administration said to hell with it, it’s the Cardinal – the color, not the bird – though for some reason, the creature that cavorts on the field is mostly green, not red. Nor does it do much for the dignity thing.* Montclair State underwent a similar transformation at about the same time. We had been the Indians. But we acquired some avian DNA and morphed into the Red Hawks.
5 comments:
Not that this really has anything to do with sociology, but I want to put it out there that my alma mater's mascot is truly the most horrifying creation ever. The “Penn Quaker” looks like a demented pedophile, with a terrifying bulbous nose, piercing eyes and a strange I’m-gonna-get-you-in-your-sleep smirk. One fall day I was walking from one side of the campus to the other (about a 15 minute walk) and the Quaker followed me the entire way. I’m still traumatized.
You mean it's not the oatmeal guy?
http://www.cracked.com/article_15646_p2.html
there was also a similar episode of south park
I'm not a big fan of political correctness. And I am not a fan of ignoring history and tradition, both good and bad. Nor am I convinced that mascots are inherently degrading. I think people distinguish mascots from the real thing. And I think there is some honor in being, well, honored by a team name. Is the U.S. shamed by Team USA and people waving foam Statue of Liberties?
And while we're at it, what about the indignity of the entire college "greek" system? As a Greek who likes fraternity but does not like the concept of greek fraternities, what gives? Those people do not represent me. Do I like it? No. Do I take offense. No. I can live with it, toga parties and all. Hell, if nothing else, being greek (but not Greek) at least teaches some idiots three letters of the Greek alphabet.
On another note, I saw a guy wearing a "fighting camels" hat the other day. The noble and cantankerous camel is strangely underrepresented in the mascot world.
And for what it's worth, when I was kid I found the Quaker Oats guy terrifying. I hated going into pantry and looking at his evil face. The guy freaks me out. Even today. Seriously. I have no idea why.
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