DAVIS, Calif. — There is a 'moo-ve' on the UC Davis campus to change the mascot from Gunrock the Mustang to a cow — yes, really.
"We're already known as a UC cow town. There's obviously already a lot of cow merchandise here at UC Davis. A lot of students already think it's already a cow," said Mick Hashimoto, founder and chief of staff of the movement Cow4Mascot. "Other than that, it's really about creating school spirit, again, creating love for a school."
According to Digital Marketing Director for the movement Mei En Chin, a proposal to change the mascot passed a student body election by over 70%. Organizers are now planning to talk with the Cal Aggie Alumni Association to get their feedback before going to the UC Davis administration with the change.
When asked about the proposal, a UC Davis spokesperson told ABC10 that the school doesn't have a statement.
"I would say from a lot of the students that I've talked to and even professors, a lot of them are in favor of changing it to a cow," said Chin. "A large part of like UC Davis tradition, especially as a freshman is to go see the dairy cows by the dorms... so that's just like a large part of student identity and school spirit, and especially since COVID has happened, there's like a diminishing on like school spirit. So I think this (would) bring everyone together."
What is the proposed change?
Hashimoto says the main goal of this movement is to create a cohesive identity within the school.
"We're proposing that our mascot should be a cow because it's what everyone already thinks it is," Hashimoto said. "And on top of that, we're known as UC Davis Aggies, and we don't want to change that, right? Because we're an agricultural school. We want the name of the mascot to be Aggie the Cow. But that's just a proposal that we're making."
