Revolted by the Ram

The new Rodney the Ram is the ugliest thing I have ever seen (“Rodney the Ram gets a makeover,” Jan. 23). This ram is neither cool nor hip as the director of university marketing, Cynthia Schmidt, says. It looks like a cheap pimp. Do we want VCU to get made fun of for having this as our mascot design?

I showed it around to some friends and they feel the same way. It was stated the university marketing is getting more requests to use the ram outside of athletics. What does this have to do with designing a new ram? Why doesn’t university marketing just use the current design of the ram?

I feel that the current look of the ram is excellent. He is cute for the kids but also has attitude at the same time for older fans. He is both cool and tough. If you go to the basket ball games you would notice this same attitude reflected in the physical mascot.

I heard that university marketing did not even consult athletics about designing a new ram. Athletics has spent a lot of money on two different mascot suits; both the fur suit and the new “Air Rodney” suit that they bought last year. Why was athletics not involved in the design process? After all, this is where the mascot gets used the most.

A symbol for the university should be one in which people like. I myself have not heard anything good about the new design, only complaints from students and faculty. The current design of the ram was chosen because there were complaints about the old design.

VCU should just use the mascot we already have. People already recognize and have grown to love this one. VCU seems to never get opinions before deciding on matters. Students should be polled to see which design they like before they go ahead with using a new one.

Andrew S. Haas