January 15, 2004

• Special report: A look at campus legends, lore and traditions
  From Hey Day to Ivy Stones, campus buildings to urban legends, we look at the traditions, legends and history of Penn.

• Ask Benny: Church is gone, but the windows survive
• Penn's Archives: Primary source for historical research
• Chip off the old block

• Event Listings
• Editor's Pick: Japanimania
• How Penn lives the dream
• See what's new in youth theater
• People's Choice: Name that team

• News Briefs
• Bookquick from the University Press
• Quoted recently
• Awards & Honors
• At Work with...Delores Snead Hale
• Campus Buzz

Office of University Communications home page

PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Name that team

But is our own Quaker mascot really appropriate? As some historians have noted, Penn really wasn’t a Quaker institution, and besides, as Tim Weal observes below, “Fighting Quaker” is really an oxymoron. In that spirit, we asked a random group of people what they thought would make a good mascot for Penn.

Tim Weal
Senior Business Administrator, Bennett Hall
“I’ve only been here for a year and I am still trying to get acquainted with the name the Quakers. Fighting Quakers – that’s a bit of an oxymoron. We could call it the Chameleon because this place is forever changing.”

Tim Albro
Coordinator, Graduate Group in English
“The Robber Barons. They had a lot of money. There it is, short and sweet.”

Diane Pringle
Coordinator, Landscape Architecture
“Franklins. It’s related to the Quakers, but may be an interesting change.”

Joanne Weston
Director of Admissions, School of Design
“The Earthworm. Because they are good, quiet calm and very hard working. Just like our students.”

Marva Green
Business Administrator, Bennett Hall
“I like the Quakers, but I have no idea. I guess it’s all I can think of when I think of Penn.”

Corey Davis
Research Assistant, HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Division, Center for Studies of Addiction
I like “The Silver Spoon Brigade” —for obvious reasons as well as possible comedic and practical possibilities: Imagine Penn football players charging onto the field of battle, spoons clenched tightly in their jaws, to the sound of hundreds of fratboys clinking spoons together while chanting “Spoon! Spoon!”. Instant classic.

Ann Marie Pitts
Administrative Assistant, English
“The Pioneers, because it was America’s first university. Or how about the Patriots?”

Karen Leary
IT Support Specialist, Social Science Computing
“Well, I’ve thought a lot about this. A Quaker just doesn’t sound very scary. An eagle seems fierce. I think the mascot should be changed, but I just don’t know to what.”

Jennifer Freeman
Ph.D. Candidate, Education
“The Metrosexuals... because even if they profess to loathe them, all Penn students know about Kiehl’s, Blahniks, and the difference between sushi and sashimi.”

— Jason Bartlett