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USC President John Palms says the gamecock is here to stay, but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals promised continued pressure, including public protest, on the university to drop the nickname.
“We always start off on writing letters and opening a dialogue like we are asking Dr. Palms to do,” said Jay Kelly, PETA campaign coordinator. “We don’t have any concrete plans right now, but in the future, I wouldn’t rule out any public protest.”
Kelly said PETA will continue to pressure the administration by posting an “action alert to alert all of our members in South Carolina and encourage animal protection advocates all over the country to contact the university and voice their concern over the mascot name.”
Kristie Phelps, PETA campaign coordinator who first contacted the university about dropping the mascot name, said in a statement, “people expect more from a university. They expect a reasoned response over time ... not some dismissive thoughtless ‘we’ve always done it that way’ reply.”
The current Cocky mascot says PETA is just “looking for someone to bother.”
“I just don’t see Cocky as someone who’s going to kill something,” said the student who wears the Cocky costume. The school mascot’s identity usually is not revealed.
In his letter of response, Palms stressed the history of the gamecock and tried to distance the term from the sport of cockfighting.
“While cockfighting is illegal in South Carolina, gamecocks are not,” he said. Palms also pointed out that, over the centuries, many cultures have associated the gamecock with “diligence, wakefulness, defiance, and vigilance.”
The gamecock was first used after USC upset Clemson in a 1902 football game. As a show of school pride, students paraded the streets with a banner depicting a gamecock standing over a dead tiger. Two weeks later, The State newspaper began referring to the school as the “Game Cocks,” and the name stuck.
Now, almost 100 years later, PETA wants to overthrow this long-standing tradition.
“Tradition never justifies cruelty,” Kelly said. “If it did, we’d still have slavery in this country. The bottom line is that most people associate gamecocks with cockfighting. That is a violent, bloody and in fact illegal tradition that has no business being associated with the fair play of sports.”
Kerry Tharpe, sports information director, disagrees, “I think they are stretching things,” he said of PETA. “I think it’s one of the more unique nicknames in college athletics. We are the only Division I-A school with the nickname ‘Gamecocks,’ and I think it describes the passion and enthusiasm that our teams and fans try to exhibit.”
Tharpe said that when football head coach Lou Holtz was asked about the prospect of losing the school mascot, he said, “These types of decisions need to be made by the administration and not the football coach.”
Two years ago, there was a different push to rename the school mascot to avoid the so-called “chicken curse.” At the time, USC was in the middle of the country’s longest losing streak. But, the plan was abandoned after the 2000 season.
“They were trying to blame our losses on something,” Cocky said. “They eventually went away.”
Student opinion of PETA’s proposition hasn’t been positive.
“I think they are way too PC,” said third-year journalism major Jason Bailey speaking about PETA. “If they did change it, what would that change in PETA’s view? It wouldn’t change any kind of reaction or anything.”
First-year finance student Jordan Broggi said: “It’s not like we’re actually having cockfights here. I love the gamecocks, and I don’t think we should change it.”
PETA plans to send a response to Palms by Monday.
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