A shark, a stingray and eight miles of shoreline walk into the student union.
That’s not a joke: Next week, Cal State Long Beach students will vote for their new mascot. The finalists are, you guessed it, a shark and a stingray — or the now familiar nickname, “The Beach,” but no mascot at all.
Cal State Long Beach begins the final voting phase for selecting a new mascot on Monday, May 6, months after Prospector Pete was removed following years of controversy that he was offensive to indigenous peoples. The student vote comes a few weeks after the community voted in a two-week, online poll that narrowed the mascot search from six to three choices.
More than half of the nearly 13,000 participants in the online poll were alumni, followed by students and community members. University staff, faculty and general fans also participated.
Participants could rank their favorites from one to six.
The university released two versions of the weighted results, one including students, who made up one-quarter of the total votes, and one excluding them.
Sharks came out on top both times.
When students were included, stingrays came in second and “Go Beach” — the vote for no mascot — came in third. But without the student vote, the two flipped.
Students will vote through an online ballot from Monday to Wednesday, May 6 to 8.
The student government will then give its recommendations to President Jane Close Conoley, who will make the final decision. The new mascot will be announced in May or June.
From there, the campus will work to bring that mascot to life. The process is expected to finish in spring 2020, with a public debut.
For more information on the mascot search, go to asicsulb.org.
