In an effort to improve campus life and school spirit, U-M-Flint is in the beginning stages of selecting a mascot to represent its campus.
While the campus has expanded over the years with club sports and student organizations, outsiders often have referred to U-M-Flint as the “Wolverines” or “Michigan Flint.”
When the campus holds its yearly student elections April 8-9, the ballot will include three choices for the U-M-Flint mascot.
“We wanted to find something that fits us,” says Wade Merrill, the U-M-Flint graduate student who spearheaded the movement. “Ann Arbor has the Wolverines and Dearborn has the Wolves; we needed something that fits the Flint campus.”
Merrill began the push for a mascot with a student petition, collecting signatures and raising awareness on campus. To get ballot consideration, a minimum of 300 signatures — roughly 5 percent of the student population — were needed.
Once Merrill met the signature requirement, administrators asked students to submit any ideas to the student activities office. The student athletics association followed up by reviewing all the submissions, picking out the best three options.
“We’ve had a lot of serious and non-serious ideas,” Merrill says. “We were looking for any ideas people had: animals, names, whatever came to mind.”
After the mascot ideas were selected, the options went before U-M-Flint’s student government. The ideas, which have not been disclosed, will be announced closer to the election date.
“The election will voice to the University what the students want, but it will still need to go through several other steps,” says Jessie Hurse, coordinator of student activities at U-M-Flint.
Once students approve the mascot concept, U-M-Flint senior administrators and the Board of Regents will review the selection.
“It (will) be a long process to make this official but this is the first step,” Merrill says. “But if everything works out, having a mascot at Flint will really give us a complete campus.”
