Then There Were Two ... Or None, Depending on How You Looked At It

This is a surprise alright but not quite the one I wanted to wake up to on my birthday …



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Golden Eagles and Hilltoppers move on to final round of “MU Voice” nickname voting beginning today

Students, alumni, faculty, staff and other members of the Marquette community have completed voting in the first round of the “MU Voice” nickname selection process, and the final two nickname options for the second round of voting will be Golden Eagles and Hilltoppers. The second round of voting opens today and runs through 9 p.m. Friday, June 24. In response to the unprecedented participation in the first vote and in anticipation of a large turnout for the second vote, Marquette will extend the second round of voting for five days longer than originally announced.

The response to the first vote, open from Tuesday, May 24, through Sunday, June 5, was enthusiastic, with 31,501 voters participating in the survey and casting 48,688 total votes. This accounts for nearly 30 percent of the total eligible voting population of approximately 105,500 people and is more than three times the participation rate in the November 2004 nickname survey.

Incoming students as well as donors to the university in the last fiscal year were added to the voting pool during the first vote in order to allow as many members of the Marquette community as possible to participate in the “MU Voice” nickname selection process.

Marquette will provide detailed information about the first vote after the entire process is completed, including the number of votes cast for each individual nickname option and the number of write-in votes. It was mutually agreed between Marquette and Advantage Research Inc., the independent research firm conducting the poll, that information from the first poll will be released after the second poll has been completed so as not to introduce bias into the second vote. All votes are binding.

“Advantage Research Inc. certifies that the two nicknames presented in the second poll received the most votes in the nickname poll conducted from May 24 through June 5, 2005,” said Scott Segrin, vice president of operations for Advantage Research. “As mutually agreed upon, the details from the first vote will be held by Advantage Research until the entire voting process is completed.”

As previously announced, the nickname with the most votes in the second vote will be presented to President Robert Wild, S.J., to be announced as Marquette’s athletics nickname in time for the university’s entry into the Big East Conference on July 1.

Second round voting instructions
To vote, go to http://marquette.edu and click “MU Voice.” You will be asked to enter your MU ID number. If you do not have Internet access, call (866) 477-4004. If you have technical problems, call (877) 477-7001.

Please note that these instructions are for students, faculty and staff only. Separate instructions have been provided to alumni and season ticket holders.

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Quite honestly I am not surprised in the least that Golden Knights did not make the cut, which would have made a better choice then Hilltoppers since it has a far greater association with the Warrior nickname but without the baggage the Native American imagery brings with it, but I am a bit dumbfounded by the choice of Golden Eagles. I am not even going to bother offering my suggestions as to what you should consider on voting for in the second round of the athletic nickname election (I don’t think I will be even voting since none of the choices are exciting for me) because either way the university is going to come out a loser and embarrassment to the state and the nation (remember, we’re heading into the Big East conference as of July 1st). Should we go with the nickname we dropped thirty years ago in favor of the Warriors because (1) the school was no longer located on a hill so it didn’t make sense to stick with it and (2) we couldn’t come up with a decent mascot to represent the university or the one we dropped less then a month ago in favor of the infamous Gold decision? If we do decide to go with Hilltoppers then may I suggest we begin to contact these guys and add them to the half-time program during the games? They are based in Chicago after all. We might as well get something decent out of this. And on the issue of whether or not releasing the number of Warrior write-in ballots would taint the second round of the nickname election, it only makes sense that the university administration would do something like this. Good for them! Why let facts get in the way of a rigged election?