Marquette supposedly deciding today

[winghaz]

Since the school was named after a missionary, why don't they change the name to Positions?

[Bleujayone]

Wasn't the USFL team in Denver called the Colorado Gold?

I guess it kind of made sense since the basketball team is the Denver Nuggets. But then again that's a gold of a different sort. It tied into their local history rather than a PC cop-out.

"Marquette Gold" to me sounds like some cheap brand of beer frat boys pick up when they're too broke for something decent.

[Pharos04]

Geez what a mess at that University. Personally i liked the Golden Eagles name. yeah it uses the eagles moniker which so many other teams use but it gives such an interesting image when you think of it. I'm with everyone else here, Gold is just pathetic and definitely not a good choice for a name. especially for D-I school. Warriors would have been the logical name, or even Golden Warriors if they want to stick with the gold theme. What the students should do, since this is how some nicknames were decided, is still call them the Warriors and go to games with "Warriors" signs and cheering "lets go warriors" and just keep it up till the guys upstairs decided to conceide and change it to a so much better name

[bterreson]

I love Gooooooooooold!

I dunno how I missed this one yesterday. Classic!

"Can I paint his yoo-hoo gold now? It's kind of my thing, you know"

"NO YOU CRAZY DUTCH BASTARD!!"

haha

classic

[flynnagain]

I love Gooooooooooold!

good one

[Sec19Row53]

One week into the "Gold" era, Marquette officials will meet to think it over.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/marq/may05/325171.asp

[Gothamite]

That's pretty funny. They've gone from "This is what we've chose, and we won't reconsider" to "Give us a minute...."

[Discrim]

hold up...they're actually admitting they screwed up this one? This is still Markette we're talkin about, right?

[Sterling84]

This is hysterical. I hope they fix it but watching them squirm is pretty great too.

From what I've heard the 3% or so that have voted favorable for this new name are all UWM and UW supporters who like that it makes MU look stupid.

Any way you slice it, 97% disapproval is landslide and they cannot just sit by and leave the situation as is. Their PR person said something to the effect of "this is going down pretty much how we expected".........to which I say....."WHA??!"

As a PR guru you EXPECT to be a national joke with almost unanimous disapproval of your concept? You need a new job lady. This isn't politics where sometimes the unpopular thing might be the noble or right thing. This is perception. Your job is perception. If you named the team the Rancid Milk you better find a way to put a good spin on it, or else find a new career.

Hopefully this won't be a Ole Miss-type situation though.......where they sweep it under the rug......retract "gold", stay put as the Eagles, and then promise to give it future consideration only to never bring it up again.

That'd be my money though.

[artvandelay]

Gold is out. There is currently no nickname. As the gtuys in the Guiness commercial say, "brilliant!"

Second Marquette University News Briefs for May 11, 2005

Marquette Trustees announce new nickname selection process, reaffirm position not to reinstate Warriors nickname

Marquette?s Board of Trustees today unanimously reaffirmed its position not to reinstate the Warriors nickname and announced that it would establish a process for stakeholders to select the new Marquette athletics nickname. The Trustees made the decision after reviewing feedback received in the past week from students, alumni and fans expressing surprise and frustration that their voices were not adequately heard in the decision to change from Golden Eagles to Marquette Gold.

?We have spent the past week listening. We heard you,? said John Bergstrom, chairman of the Board of Trustees. ?The decision to change the nickname to Marquette Gold generated a response that we did not expect from Marquette stakeholders. We regret that we disappointed them and we want to respond to those concerns. We?ve established a new process today so that your voices can be heard. It?s transparent, it?s inclusive and it?s easy.?

The Board unanimously reaffirmed its position not to reinstate the Warriors nickname. As stewards of the university?s mission, the Trustees believe Marquette must adhere to the highest possible standards of its Catholic, Jesuit mission, which include recognizing and appreciating the dignity of every member of our human family.

?While I recognize that some people are disappointed that we are not reinstating the Warriors nickname, we cannot teach one principle about respect for human dignity in our classrooms and then fail to act by that same principle when making decisions,? President Robert Wild, S.J., said. ?The Warriors nickname will always be part of our proud athletics tradition, and we will honor that tradition. But we live in a different era than when the Warriors nickname was selected in 1954. The perspective of time has shown us that our actions, intended or not, can offend others. We must not knowingly act in a way that others will believe, based on their experience, to be an attack on their dignity as fellow human beings.?

The Board of Trustees announced a new process by which a new athletics nickname will be chosen and also announced the formation of the Marquette Nickname Advisory Committee made up of representative students, alumni, faculty and staff. The process will include:

1. Within the next two weeks, a list of as many as 10 names will be presented to the Marquette community. All the names presented will be selected from the hundreds of names suggested by the Marquette community during either the 1994 or 2004 nickname processes. While the final list has not been decided, the list will certainly include some of the obvious names given Marquette?s athletics history, including Blue and Gold, Golden Avalanche, Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles.

There will also be a write-in option, presented with the parameters that votes for Warriors will not be counted, and that all write-in?s must be consistent with both our Jesuit, Catholic mission and the Board resolution on Native American imagery.

2. All members of the Marquette community, including students, alumni, faculty and staff, will be asked to choose two nicknames from the list, or can offer a write-in option.

3. The two options receiving the most support from the first vote will be presented to the Marquette community for a second vote. The nickname with the most support in the second vote will then be presented to the president to be announced as Marquette?s new athletics nickname going into the Big East Conference.

Both votes will be binding, and will be conducted on the Web with provisions made for those who do not have Internet access. Members of the Marquette community will be notified via mail and e-mail in the coming weeks about steps for participating in the voting process. More information about the voting process will also be available at http://marquette.edu/nickname.

The Marquette Nickname Advisory Committee will oversee the voting process and will advise the university in the development of the look of the new nickname, following its selection after the second vote.

Marquette has preliminarily planned that the timing for the nickname process will be as follows:

Week of May 23: List of nickname options will be presented to the Marquette community for the first vote. The Marquette community (students, alumni, faculty and staff) will choose two names from the list, or offer a write-in.

Mid-June: Second vote will be conducted with the top-two vote getters.

By July 1: The winning nickname will be announced.

Following the choice of a new nickname, Marquette will further engage the Marquette community, through focus groups and other forums, in the design of a visual identity for the new nickname, with a new logo to be chosen by the start of the school year. Students will be asked to give input on design and name the mascot (the costumed character appearing at games) in the fall.

The Board agreed that any nickname selected must be consistent with the university?s mission and adhere to the resolution passed last September banning use of any Native American imagery or references in Marquette?s athletics nickname, logo or mascot. In addition, the new nickname must be selected by Marquette?s official entry into the Big East Conference on July 1. The Golden Eagles will remain Marquette?s athletics nickname until July 1.

Father Wild concluded, ?We must remember that Marquette University is first and foremost an academic institution. We have great momentum resulting from the accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni over the past several years. Just last week, we received the largest single donation in university history with a gift of $28 million that will transform our College of Communication. For the third consecutive year, we celebrate the fact that students are applying to Marquette in record numbers. Marquette has risen in national academic rankings. The campus has undergone a physical transformation, and Marquette has enjoyed the most successful fund-raising period in its history, raising more than $300 million during the current comprehensive campaign. These are the true measures of a great university.?

[Gothamite]

Wow. They should have done this the last time.

[DrBear]

< professor from Futurama>Good news, everybody!</professor from Futurama>

Funny how being a national laughingstock changes one's mind, although that hasn't sunk in to John Rocker yet.

[BBTV]

Will white smoke appear when the voting is finished and they have picked a nickname?

[Gothamite]

That's hysterical. Wish I thought of it.

[Sterling84]

Overlooked in this however is that Marquette was NOT pressured into changing their nickname from Warriors in the first place.

Yet it has been unilaterally banned from consideration.

If they are opposed to the name Warriors because "one who makes or wages war" is not consistent with their humanitarian values then fine. But it seems that they are hung up on a native american connotation tied to the old logo.

I heard that the native american "leaders" they spoke to that opposed the return of the name weren't even from here, they were like up in Menomonee or something. They couldn't even find someone here who objected.

[Discrim]

eh great...they could wind up with not just Gold, but Blue and Gold. slight, but a possibility nonetheless. this is incredibly laughable...they would have been much better off doing absolutely nothing.

so for the time being, it's Markette Nothing...hmm.

Go Nothing!

[ahub]

I say they compromise:

Golden Gold Eagle Warriors

[pastajoe]

Marquette Jumping Jesuits

Marquette Missionaries

Marquette Saints

Marquette Apostles

The Milwaukee Angels of Marquette

[Gary]

eh great...they could wind up with not just Gold, but Blue and Gold. slight, but a possibility nonetheless. this is incredibly laughable...they would have been much better off doing absolutely nothing.

so for the time being, it's Markette Nothing...hmm.

Go Nothing!

and here is the logo for the Marquette Nothings

[slapshot]

Marquette Boxing Jesuits?