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Mascot history....robber baron vote - TreesAndBirds - 06-22-2016

Not sure why we are getting an article about this now.....

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/story-stanford-mocked-founding-father-171933472.html

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - Papa John - 06-22-2016

Maybe Marissa Mayer asked for the story? It's an OK read and almost factual, but I'm not sure a lot of people care decades later.

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - Nan3cy - 06-22-2016

I was a grad student then and voted for Robber Barons. Fifteen or so years later when I was working for Stanford, trying to help the University fend off accusations of having overcharged the Feds by a quarter of a billion $$ in indirect costs, I was very glad that the administration had not gone along with it. We had all the snarky newspaper comments we could deal with as it was.

At the time, my take on the whole thing was, if you don't want our opinion, just don't ask for it...


Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - oldalum - 06-22-2016

IIRC, which I may not from that many years ago, the administration then held a second vote without Robber Barons on the ballot; Trees and Sequoias split the vote, and neither was declared the winner. The band had promoted the Trees and then adopted the tree as its mascot. But I may be disremembering the whole thing . . .

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - 82lsju - 06-22-2016

looks like they poked through the Daily archives for most of the info, a couple of the articles

from 1975

Voters axe Indian mascot; Robber Barons selected

Students resoundingly defeated the Stanford Indian as a school mascot in the special referendum held yesterday and Wednesday. Of the 2770 students voting, preliminary results show only 855 (30.87 percent) supported the Indian, while 1915 (69.13 percent) were opposed. As a replacement, the name Robber Barons received the most first and second place votes (1664), followed closely bv Sequoias (1598) and Trees (1530). The present symbol, Cardinals, came in fourth (1309), while Railroaders, Spikes and Huns all finished well below the top four choices.

http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19751205-01.2.2&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-robber+and+baron+and+vote------

from 1981

Students vote to accept Cardinal

The Stanford Cardinal, garnering 970 votes in the mascot referendum, will be the ASSU's recommendation to the University's mascot committee, according to Mariann Byerwalter, Council of Presidents (COP) representative to the committee. The second choice of voters was the tree, with 826 votes, and third choice was the gryphon, with 655 votes. The leading write-in was the robber baron with 310 votes. Next was the Indian with 82 votes

http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19811030-01.2.5&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-robber+and+baron+and+vote------

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - pefloresjr - 06-22-2016

What about the Steaming Manhole Covers?!  The legend I heard in 82' was that in 1975, the second place finisher after Robber Barons was the Stanford Steaming Manhole Covers.  It was supposedly also rejected by the administration.  It would have been a tough costume to put together but might be easier now with all the vaping going on. 

Cheers,
Pete F. 

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - CornFed - 06-22-2016

A topic like this is when I miss garvin the most.

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - fullmetal - 06-22-2016

^Yeah.  His easy recall of Stanford history is irreplaceable on this board...

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - 81alum - 06-22-2016

I remember the Griffin campaign of 1978.

Quote:In 1978, another group comprised of 225 varsity athletes from 18 teams, started a petition for the mascot to be the griffin – a mythological animal with the body and hind legs of a lion and head and wings of an eagle. The University moved two griffin statues from the Children’s Hospital to a grassy area between Encina Gym and Angel Field. The campaign for the Griffins failed.
http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=208445366

I think the athletes were behind the griffins but non-athletes preferred to stick to the Robber Barons.  I still think Robber Barons would be unique.  Better even than Scottsdale Community college (The fighting artichokes), or Evergreen State (The Geoducks--pronounced goo ee ducks), or even our nearby Santa Cruz (Banana Slugs.) 

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - TreesAndBirds - 06-22-2016

I thought the "Shopping Centers" received a lot of votes. Maybe just in my dorm. Or maybe my memory is continuing to fail me.

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - Spiny_Norman - 06-22-2016

In 1981, I voted for the Thunder Chickens. 

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - Griffins78 - 06-22-2016

Exactly! I was one of them.

(06-22-2016, 05:04 PM)81alum link Wrote:I remember the Griffin campaign of 1978.

Quote:In 1978, another group comprised of 225 varsity athletes from 18 teams, started a petition for the mascot to be the griffin – a mythological animal with the body and hind legs of a lion and head and wings of an eagle. The University moved two griffin statues from the Children’s Hospital to a grassy area between Encina Gym and Angel Field. The campaign for the Griffins failed.
http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=208445366

I think the athletes were behind the griffins but non-athletes preferred to stick to the Robber Barons.  I still think Robber Barons would be unique.  Better even than Scottsdale Community college (The fighting artichokes), or Evergreen State (The Geoducks--pronounced goo ee ducks), or even our nearby Santa Cruz (Banana Slugs.)


Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - CornFed - 06-22-2016

I would still love the Robber Barons.  And we could get rights to use the Monopoly man as our mascot.  :P

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - 81alum - 06-22-2016

I've been on campus a lot since then but have not looked for those Griffin statues.  Anyone know if they are still there?

http://125.stanford.edu/claws-stanford-griffin/

Interesting story about Gordie Banks being a griffin supporter.

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - SpokaneLee - 06-22-2016

(06-22-2016, 04:24 PM)CornFed link Wrote:A topic like this is when I miss garvin the most.

I'm not on here all the time. i see he is still at the Miami Herald. Where is Garvin here?

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - needle - 06-22-2016

If it was up to me, I'd go with Big Red Machine.

http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19311120-01.2.142

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - 82lsju - 06-23-2016

(06-22-2016, 11:22 PM)needle link Wrote:If it was up to me, I'd go with Big Red Machine.

http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19311120-01.2.142

Well The Cincinnati Reds of the 1970 already were "The Big Red Machine"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Red_Machine

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - oldalum - 06-23-2016

that's what killed the griffin, IIRC: some college sent a letter to the Daily saying they already had the griffin/gryphon as their mascot, and that killed the enthusiasm for it. But I thought that happened in the mid-70s.

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - jacketree - 06-23-2016

Sarah Larwence Gryphons?

Re: Mascot history....robber baron vote - CornFed - 06-23-2016

Has the "Fighting Graphenes" been taken?