Issue: The Nameless No More contest came to a close recently, and few were surprised by the results.

Over the past several weeks, the SDSU Alumni Association has been the promoting the Nameless No More contest to finally, after 104 years, give SDSU’s jackrabbit mascot an official name. The winning name was announced Nov. 12 in The Union Market. Not surprisingly, the name Jack received the plurality of the votes.

During this campaign many were asking what the point was. Nearly everyone assumed the name of the jackrabbit mascot was Jack. During football games, the announcer referred to the mascot as Jack. Students, alumni and faculty called him Jack.

So, why put on a campus contest to name the jackrabbit that many thought already had a name?

Granted, since there was no official name, there needed to be clarification 8212; it needed to be made official. The university could have thrown the 105th birthday bash just as they did, but instead of a contest, they could have more easily declared 8212; once and for all 8212; the mascot’s name as Jack.

We appreciate that the Alumni Association’s spirit of inclusion by letting SDSU stakeholders decide the name rather than a small group of officials, but we think this contest was unnecessary.

We don’t think there was a doubt in anyone’s mind that the winning name would not be Jack. About 4,000 votes were cast 8212; a small number considering the nearly 13,000 students that currently attend SDSU and the thousands of alumni. What if, for some unexpected reason, Jack would not have won? What if the plurality of that small sample of voters voted to name the mascot one of the other names?

This contest was about publicity, marketing, promotion and raising school spirit. We want to be very clear: there is nothing wrong with any of that. Those are good things when implemented correctly.

However, this contest backfired. Instead of raising school spirit and getting people excited, it just left people confused and wondering, “Why bother?”

Stance: We’re glad the mascot has an official name. There’s nothing wrong with having a contest for the purposes of marketing and promotions, but the Nameless No More contest opened SDSU up for more criticism than praise.