Ever wanted to name a university's mascot? Now's your chance!

[RealSNR]

The University of North Dakota got rid of the Fighting Sioux in 2012, and since that time, they have been simply "The University of North Dakota." No mascot. Fighting Sioux was beloved by the community of Grand Forks largely because of the tradition associated with it in the university's college hockey program, which has been historically and recently one of the top college hockey programs in the NCAA.

The university has finally assembled a committee to look through suggestions and recommend a new mascot to the president of the university. They just need the suggestions. That's where you come in. Simply click the link and fill out the online form: http://und.edu/nickname/

Here are the basic guidelines to consider (from the UND announcement):

Spoiler!

Online suggestions, which must be 25 characters or less (including any spaces), will be accepted from Wednesday, April 1 at 8 a.m. CDT to Thursday, April 30 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. All mail-in submissions must be postmarked no later than April 25.

The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol.

Submissions are anonymous; individuals submitting suggestions will not be asked to provide their names. All nickname submissions are subject to North Dakota open records law. Individuals submitting nickname suggestions are not entitled to compensation or anything of value in exchange for the submission, and all submissions become the property of the University of North Dakota.

The Committee will accept suggestions for nicknames only. Drawings, designs, logos, art files, special characters, etc. will not be considered.

Nickname suggestions will be sent directly to PadillaCRT, a group that has national expertise in nickname development and that has been advising the Nickname Committee. Any nickname suggestions known to be trademarked and/or subject to third-party rights or uses may not be considered by the Committee.

Since I'm originally from Grand Forks, I have connections to people who are abuzz with this process. I can tell you that there are already some favorites being championed:

--Flickertails. This was the university's mascot prior to becoming the Fighting Sioux in the 1930s. Given the university's recent goals of expanding into a tier-one research university, it makes a lot of sense to go with rodentia like their counterparts in the Big 10 (gophers, badgers). North Dakota is also known as the Flickertail State.

--Roughriders. The safest bet. Nothing says North Dakota pride like references to Teddy Roosevelt. Would also still manage to piss off a few people, since Teddy Roosevelt probably killed a few Indians when he was out in the North Dakota Badlands. It largely boils down to whether or not the university is cool with proudly stating to people, "Yeah, you might think of condoms when you hear our name, but we're still going to beat you in hockey!"

--Pilots. UND's aviation research and development program is unanimously known as the best in the country. It's odd to pick a mascot based on the strength of an academic program, but eh... weirder things have happened.

--Green Meadowlarks. This one combines creativity with tradition and old-sounding college mascot nomenclature, but it's also kind of weird. The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of North Dakota, and green and white are the school's primary colors. A problem with this is that I believe the Western Meadowlark is also the state bird of like 20 other states. It's still better than Banana Slugs.

--Keep using no mascot. The most likely option, I think. It's the last method that UND fans have to tell the NCAA to go **** itself for making the university ditch Fighting Sioux. There's a rule in place that they can't have a racial mascot, but there is no rule that says the school has to have a mascot, just a nice little memo that says, "It would be really nice if your school had a mascot so we could maintain the entire aesthetic of the neighborhood. Smiley face." It would also make the university stand out and be truly unique.

But that doesn't mean you can't play a role in creating collegiate athletic history! So get in there!

[ClevelandBronco]

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[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Here's the committee. Does anyone know any of them?

http://und.edu/university-public-affairs/nickname/

Karl Goehring, UND alumnus and former men’s hockey goal tender, Investment Consultant, Alerus Securities, Committee chair (Goehring also served on the previous Task Force, which recommended that the Task Force be represented on the new Committee)

Jazmyn Friesz, UND Health Sciences student, Student Body Chief of Staff, Committee vice chair

Landon Bahl, UND Entrepreneurship and Marketing student

John Bridewell, UND Professor of Aviation

Carla Christofferson, UND alumna, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at AECOM, Los Angeles, Calif.

Diane Hillebrand, CRA (Certified Research Administrator), UND alumna, Grant and Contract Officer for UND’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, current Past President of Staff Senate and Chair of the Bylaws/Elections Committee

Dayo Idowu, UND Chemical Engineering student and current men’s football student athlete

Dr. Leander “Russ” McDonald, three-time UND alumnus and President, United Tribes Technical College

Chelsea Moser, UND Accountancy student and current women’s volleyball student athlete

Lowell Schweigert, UND alumnus and football letterwinner, long-time Champions Club member, current UND Booster Chair, Financial Consultant and Business Owner, Northern Plains Financial

Dave St. Peter, UND alumnus and President, Minnesota Twins

Susan Walton, UND’s Vice President for University and Public Affairs, serves as project manager for the Committee. Communications support will be provided by University & Public Affairs personnel.

The Nickname Committee will not engage a professional facilitator. However, based on recommendations from the previous Task Force, collegiate branding expert Kelly O’Keefe, who provided branding counsel to that group, will join the Nickname Committee’s meetings by phone to provide counsel and discuss best practices.

I know a couple people, actually. One of them is a member of the church I used to play at, and the other is a family friend.

No, I'm not just making that up.

I didn't even consider going directly to the source of the decision making on this. I think we just got a huge boost.

[Aries Walker]

I encouraged - okay, dragooned - a few of my friends into voting. I'm half a country away and have of those people, but I'm really hoping they win, and I'm totally buying a t-shirt when they do.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

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I got that message, but it apparently put me into the system. When I shut the page and then opened it back up I was able to log in, but I'm in the "waiting for approval" stage right now. Maybe you're in the same situation.

As soon as I'm in, I'll start working that crowd. The choices they're bandying about aren't very original.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

I know a couple people, actually. One of them is a member of the church I used to play at, and the other is a family friend.

No, I'm not just making that up.

I didn't even consider going directly to the source of the decision making on this. I think we just got a huge boost.

If I may quote Salt n Pepa from that bad commercial, push it.

Y'know, my firm actually did research for another college mascot a couple of years ago, and we've also done research for two colleges that were considering new names for the whole school. So I'm kind of an expert on this if you need to play that card.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

If I may quote Salt n Pepa from that bad commercial, push it.

Y'know, my firm actually did research for another college mascot a couple of years ago, and we've also done research for two colleges that were considering new names for the whole school. So I'm kind of an expert on this if you need to play that card.

I know you probably can't release the names of the places you did work for, but can you at least say if the schools are happy with the changes you suggested?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

I know you probably can't release the names of the places you did work for, but can you at least say if the schools are happy with the changes you suggested?

Yeah, they're all happy. In one case we did the initial branding research that justified a name change, and then the school picked the name and moved forward. It was an East Coast school.

In another case, we got involved because there was controversy about a name change. The administration wanted one name and the students rallied around another name and there was also a tussle with a nearby school that was worried about an overlap in names. There were short-term battles but they died out pretty quickly.

On the mascot one, we just did some vetting of a mascot and a couple of variants that were already under consideration, and I don't think there was any controversy about the options.

I'm tempted to write to UND and offer our services for concept testing, but it might cause controversy if they find out that I'm an ermine proponent, even though I could still be quite neutral about it.

[bigbucks24]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yeah, they're all happy. In one case we did the initial branding research that justified a name change, and then the school picked the name and moved forward. It was an East Coast school.

In another case, we got involved because there was controversy about a name change. The administration wanted one name and the students rallied around another name and there was also a tussle with a nearby school that was worried about an overlap in names. There were short-term battles but they died out pretty quickly.

On the mascot one, we just did some vetting of a mascot and a couple of variants that were already under consideration, and I don't think there was any controversy about the options.

I'm tempted to write to UND and offer our services for concept testing, but it might cause controversy if they find out that I'm an ermine proponent, even though I could still be quite neutral about it.

When have you ever been quite neutral about anything?

[bigbucks24]

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by bigbucks24

When have you ever been quite neutral about anything?

I'm passionately neutral about everything. Neutrality is the thing I love most.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yeah, they're all happy. In one case we did the initial branding research that justified a name change, and then the school picked the name and moved forward. It was an East Coast school.

In another case, we got involved because there was controversy about a name change. The administration wanted one name and the students rallied around another name and there was also a tussle with a nearby school that was worried about an overlap in names. There were short-term battles but they died out pretty quickly.

On the mascot one, we just did some vetting of a mascot and a couple of variants that were already under consideration, and I don't think there was any controversy about the options.

I'm tempted to write to UND and offer our services for concept testing, but it might cause controversy if they find out that I'm an ermine proponent, even though I could still be quite neutral about it.

Is concept testing related to what this group is already doing for UND?

Nickname suggestions will be sent directly to PadillaCRT, a group that has national expertise in nickname development and that has been advising the Nickname Committee. Any nickname suggestions known to be trademarked and/or subject to third-party rights or uses may not be considered by the Committee.

[Steron]

Mutha****ing Ermines, baby.

Option 1 & 2 (without the mutha****ing and baby)

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

Is concept testing related to what this group is already doing for UND?

Yeah, concept testing would generally involve some combination of...

1. General perception survey

likely a survey or focus groups with a non-North Dakota sample that will give you neutral feedback


2. Stakeholder survey

same as above, but you do it with an audience that has more identification with the issue, such as students, alumni, or the North Dakota public


You certainly don't have to do all of that - our mascot research was just some focus groups with current students at the school, for example. It depends on how much controversy you might have and how much risk there might be.

When we did the name change research for a big university, the work was much broader because it was a much bigger deal. We did branding research with eight distinct populations: current students, staff, alumni, major donors, the general public, career counselors, state legislators, and professional associations.

And the truth is that you'll get grousing about any type of change of this sort. Alumni generally hate re-naming a college, so you have to keep that in mind, and mascots are pretty integral with the identity of a college. You just have to find the one that's most liked and least disliked, and if they're different you have to make the call.


Edit: I just went back and looked at our mascot project, and it actually ended up not being about the mascot itself, but rather a logo using the mascot. My bad.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yeah, concept testing would generally involve some combination of...

1. General perception survey

likely a survey or focus groups with a non-North Dakota sample that will give you neutral feedback


2. Stakeholder survey

same as above, but you do it with an audience that has more identification with the issue, such as students, alumni, or the North Dakota public


You certainly don't have to do all of that - our mascot research was just some focus groups with current students at the school, for example. It depends on how much controversy you might have and how much risk there might be.

When we did the name change research for a big university, the work was much broader because it was a much bigger deal. We did branding research with eight distinct populations: current students, staff, alumni, major donors, the general public, career counselors, state legislators, and professional associations.

And the truth is that you'll get grousing about any type of change of this sort. Alumni generally hate re-naming a college, so you have to keep that in mind, and mascots are pretty integral with the identity of a college. You just have to find the one that's most liked and least disliked, and if they're different you have to make the call.


Edit: I just went back and looked at our mascot project, and it actually ended up not being about the mascot itself, but rather a logo using the mascot. My bad.

Question: Did you come up with "Banana Slugs" for UC Santa Cruz?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

Question: Did you come up with "Banana Slugs" for UC Santa Cruz?

I wish. That's an inspired name.