I Am Camel, Hear Me Roar

Go on a tour of Connecticut College, and you’re bound to run into the same question every time: “…Why is your mascot a camel, out of all things?”

Connecticut College students often wonder the same thing. With stories ranging from camel-obsessed presidents to camels, kept as pets, in the rooms of former ConnColl students, the camel mascot was established in 1969, the same year the College went co-ed. Mike Shinault, head of the print shop and newly-instated basketball coach, named the CC team after a Pakistani team he’d seen during his time in the Navy. Quickly embraced by the college community, the mascot inspired a camel call—“HUUUUUUUUUMP!”—shouted at every game by enthusiastic Camel fans.

With such a whimsical mascot, criticism abounds. Known to be a fairly docile animal, famous for obnoxiously chewing its cud, students, particularly athletes, dislike the image of a camel for its passive demeanor and slow movement.

Taking this into account, the College hired Rickabaugh Graphics, whose owner Eric Rickabaugh will “redesign the camel and strengthen the school’s overall athletic identity, including its varsity letter”, according to a news story on the College’s homepage. The new camel mascot was envisioned primarily for athletic teams, and will initially be used accordingly. The current mascot, which is about ten years old, didn’t fit the athletic department’s desires for a stronger-looking, more intimidating camel. Gleaned from surveys and opinions, Rickabaugh Graphics identified the faults of the current camel: the vertical logo is difficult in horizontal layouts; the camel looks rather static, and the athletes would prefer a camel in motion; it doesn’t work on dark or complex backgrounds; and, most importantly, the connection to Connecticut College is somewhat unclear without a CC logo attached. The company also aimed to have the mascot stand out when juxtaposed with the other NESCAC logos, also proposing to change the College’s trademark royal blue color to a darker navy.

Rickabaugh Graphics faced a challenge—first, making the camel fiercer, attractive, and appear to be in motion, and subsequently avoiding both replicating the mascot of Campbell University, the only other school in the country to share the camel mascot, and any resemblance to Camel cigarettes. Working from the results garnered from a campuswide survey, Rickabaugh kept the campus’ preferences in mind. Overall, Connecticut College wants a camel that looks proud, strong, and dignified, and is collegiate, classic, traditional. CC was most opposed to a cartoonish or silly-looking camel, as even our current camel, as one student put it, “looks too friendly.”

Rickabaugh Graphics is working with four main options, aiming to unveil them on April 5th, the College’s 99th anniversary and the beginning of events that will culminate on the College’s centennial. In several focus groups, including a presentation to SGA, Rickabaugh Graphics showed the four options to groups of students, charting their opinions and saving them for future tweaking. The various camels featured angular jawlines, tuffs of hair, pointed ears, blankets, and flattened noses—none of which the focus groups fully embraced. Wanting to combine elements from all of the camels, many people supported an aggressive attribute (fierce eyes) with a softening feature (flattened ears) to balance the camel out, to keep it from looking more angry than aggressive. Eric Rickabaugh and Lisa Brownell, Director of Publications for College Relations, facilitated the discussion, actively seeking student opinions.

Many students wonder, however, why the College is suddenly trying to redesign the mascot, in yet another action to enhance the College. To some, the new mascot seems like a waste of money and time. “I don’t see what’s wrong with our camel,” one student said. “I don’t really see how you can update a camel. Our camel is kind of silly looking, but it’s a camel, and it’s ours.” Another student agreed: “I don’t really understand how schools can just remodel their mascots—it’s the only camel we know.”

The promise of new mascot pleases athletes eager for a new athletic identity. “I think it’s boring,” one basketball player commented. “It doesn’t show us as an intimidating team that others should try to beat.” Most other athletes agreed, citing the current mascot as not adequately representing the athletic image they want to convey.

Still, Rickabaugh Graphics has a while to go —with two months until they unveil the new mascot to the College community, the mascots seen in the focus groups are likely to change and be combined into one camel, representing the “proud, strong, and dignified” students of Connecticut College.